


Standing on the Edge of Something Good

by picklesandsweetpea, semijocund



Category: Schitt's Creek, The Sentinel (TV)
Genre: Best Friends Stevie Budd & David Rose, Blow Jobs, Boyfriends, Boys In Love, Boys Kissing, Canon Compliant, Canon Queer Relationship, Clothes don’t belong on the floor, Conversations, Crossover, David and Patrick need to connect, Developing Relationship, Episode: s02e01 Finding David, Episode: s03e10 Sebastien Raine, Episode: s04e07 The Barbecue, Ex-fiancée, Exes, Falling In Love, Feelings, First Gay Kiss, First Meetings, Fluff, Friendship, Grinding, Hand Jobs, M/M, Making out in the back room, Mild Swearing, Missing Scene, Nosey Ray, Patrick Brewer is a Button, Patrick has a great ass, Romance, Rose Apothecary (Schitt's Creek), Schitt’s Creek fic with a The Sentinel haircut, Slow Burn, Stevie is a good friend, second kisses too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:07:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 26,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26654905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/picklesandsweetpea/pseuds/picklesandsweetpea, https://archiveofourown.org/users/semijocund/pseuds/semijocund
Summary: Being stranded on the Amish farm has consequences for David that will forever change how he experiences life.OrWatching Schitt’s Creek with Sentinel-colored glasses.
Relationships: Patrick Brewer/David Rose
Comments: 4
Kudos: 53





	1. You Start Losing Part of Your Mind Down in a Mystery

**Author's Note:**

> This started as a dream...literally. I still can't remember much about it other than vague thoughts of how David exhibited some things I would expect to see in a sentinel. So after too many chats back and forth with Picklesandsweetpea about the "little black dress fandom" that Schitt's Creek hadn't worn yet, a fic was born.
> 
> As we talked, we realized we had created a whole Schitt's Creek Sentinel verse that we could play in. Trying to be smart, as neither of us have written much, we opted to just take a small piece and start there. When we hit 15k words, we realized perhaps this wasn't as small as we expected.
> 
> So this is the first completed work we have in this verse. There's plenty to play with here, so we expect more fic to follow. Hopefully you will enjoy reading it as much as we've had working on it.
> 
> Thanks to [BastRavenshadow](/users/BastRavenshadow/) and [Jersey_Lion](/users/Jersey_Lion/) for being our betas. We're sorry we suck at tenses. 
> 
> Fic title and chapter one title are lyrics from The Alternate Routes – Please Don't Let It Be

It’s David’s second self-exiled night here in Amish Land, which makes it sound like an amusement park ride which it definitely is not. The oppressive silence is getting to him. The lack of noise was hard enough when he first moved to Schitt’s Creek. He was so used to sirens at all hours of the night, constant chatter from people being touristy and the non-stop noises that come from the city that never sleeps. In some ways, it was almost calming. He knew no matter what time it was, he would hear people being alive. And it wasn’t just the sounds he came to appreciate. The lights never dimmed. Curtains helped, but the flashing headlights of cars coming and going were constant as well. And the first step outside every day brought both new and old smells. New York was alive, its heart beating, and his senses were so used to constant input that moving to Schitt’s Creek was a shock. 

But at least in the motel, next to the only road in town, he’d still hear cars rumble past during the night. It wasn’t nearly the same, but hotel guests (when they had any) came and went and made it feel a little more like what he was used to. If nothing else, there was an underlying buzz from the vending machine or vacancy sign. 

Not here though. Here was silence. Here was dark. And he couldn’t get used to it. It made him stress and strain to hear or see something. Anything. He tried putting his hand in front of his face, just to see how dark it was...and nothing. It’s not like he’s afraid of the dark. But he’s definitely not comfortable right now. 

He tries to hear noises, to prove to his mind that there is life outside this blackness. Eventually he thinks he can hear Miriam quietly snuffling in her sleep in the bedroom upstairs, but that isn’t enough. 

It’s been a rough few days. Between the need to run from Schitt’s Creek and knowing he’s lost his only friend...he feels like he’s still in the nightmare that started that last day in NYC. There’s not enough sound or light to quiet his mind and he feels the panic rising. He’s never felt more alone than he does at this very moment. Even his skin feels like it is on fire and his breathing is becoming more and more ragged. 

He considers jumping out of bed and doing something drastic just to do something when the sound of a sheep baying causes him to actually jump. He turns his head towards the sound, wondering if one of them has escaped from the barn and is hanging out on the porch. It sounds fairly close but there’s no way he’s going to go outside in this pitch black. 

He keeps listening and realizes it’s more than just one. He closes his eyes and concentrates, trying to pick out how many got out. If nothing else, maybe he’ll be able to tell Aaron tomorrow the number they need to go looking for. After a few minutes he’s definitely picked out at least three, but he’s struggling to narrow in on if there’s a fourth or not.

With a slightly panicked laugh, David realizes he’s actually calmed down and started to relax by literally counting sheep. He stifles his giggles and goes back to focusing on the sheep. He doesn’t remember falling asleep.

\-----

He’s startled awake the next morning. “David. David. The day has started. Please get up.”

It’s not like Miriam to yell, but with as little sleep as he got last night, he’s not surprised it was hard to wake him up.

“Okay! Please stop yelling. My head is killing me,” David whispers. Even that is too loud. He opens his eyes briefly to see a confused look on Miriam’s face but he quickly closes his eyes when the brightness in the room feels like a spike in his skull. “Ugh. Give me a minute. Please go away.” He curls in on himself, trying to stop the light from seeping in around his closed eyes. 

It makes for a rough start to the morning. His worst hangover was easier than this. His skin now feels like he’s wearing burlap and the smells from the farm are ensuring that there will be no breakfast for him. It seems Miriam has taken some pity on him and left to continue churning her butter. That means it’s still fairly early but the constant pounding as she works is getting to be too much.

Thankfully his sunglasses are not far and he grabs them before stumbling away to find some cold water, looking for any kind of relief. It doesn’t help much but he’s better than when he first woke up. 

He knows he needs to get out of these clothes that bother him but he isn’t sure what to wear. He’s too on edge to spend a lot of time looking but he sees a comfy hoodie and grabs it, not willing to spend much more time in the house. Someone is making something in the kitchen and whatever they are using is making his eyes water. 

\------

By the time his family arrives later that afternoon, David is feeling a bit better. The sun is still too bright even with the sunglasses. But being out in the field has reduced the smells, so while he puts up the expected amount of gruff about leaving, he’s actually really relieved to be heading back to the hotel. 

Everything still seems to be a bit too much but it feels like the remnants of a hangover, slowly getting better. It is slightly disappointing that the ice cream they stop for on the way back is so cold though. He usually would be the one stealing Alexis’s leftovers but he’s barely been able to finish his own. Tomorrow will be better, he tells himself. It better be.

\-----

The next morning, he wakes up with a headache again. While he had trouble sleeping again last night, it wasn’t nearly as bad as being on the farm so he’s putting it down to stress. It’s been a rough few days.

——

It’s been almost a week since that stress headache the day after staying at the farm. Since then, life has basically gotten back to normal. There was an issue at the cafe a couple of days ago when he swears Twyla dumped a whole pound of salt in the meatloaf but his father ate it just fine so he shrugs it off as getting a bad batch. Sometimes he’s also noticed that the hotel seems brighter than usual but he blames Stevie screwing with him by changing the lightbulbs around. It’s a random string of things to be annoyed about, but he can’t be bothered to worry about it.

So when he wakes up with his skin on fire, his first thought is that Stevie has upped the ante by putting itching powder in his bedding. He takes a quick shower but even the cold water stings his skin. But, by the time he’s out, he’s feeling a little better. He’s not sure if the shower actually helped or if the anger he feels at being screwed with gives him something else to focus on. He throws on his softest sweater and baggiest pants and storms into the office.

“I thought you were over me!” David snarls as he whips open the office door, not caring that it bounces off the wall as he approaches the desk.

Stevie, in typical fashion, ignores his outburst and finishes the page she’s reading before answering him. “Good morning, Sunshine. What crawled up your ass today? And yes, as we’ve discussed before, I am definitely over it. However this tantrum is super sexy. Maybe I need to reconsider.” The look on Stevie’s face says it all.

“Why are you screwing with me? It’s not funny. You do sarcasm, not pranks. This is not a cute look for you,” David says huffily. 

Stevie cocks her head but doesn’t say anything. David senses he might be overacting, since Stevie usually humors him and this time she is definitely not.

“Changing the light bulbs in my room? The itching powder in my bedding? Super not cool.” He is practically tapping his foot waiting for Stevie to explain why she’s messing with him.

“Okay David, you know me. While those sound like they may be amusing to see how you’d react...I really don’t care enough to expend the energy. It’s not me. Did you piss someone else off? Oh wait, who haven’t you pissed off?” It’s kind of admirable the way Stevie doesn’t back down and just gives the attitude right back to him. And somehow she manages to do it without getting loud, which is a blessing. His headache is coming back. Damn it!

“Yeah, but no one else has access to my room.” His reply is immediate, no pause. He’s convinced it’s Stevie who is messing with him.  
  
“Really? I thought you lived with your parents and sister? I’m fairly certain Alexis has more than enough motivation to screw with you.”

“Yes but I’ve seen her vengeance. It’s much less hands on. You swear you’re not messing with me?” He asks, faltering a bit, starting to doubt his assumption.

“Well, I’m always messing with you, but no, I haven’t done anything to your room.” With that, David is evidently dismissed as Stevie goes back to her book. 

David leaves and decides to wash his bedding. The stuff the hotel provides has never met his standards, but it’s also never left him so irritated. 

The rest of the morning isn’t much better, his skin still feels like he’s wearing sandpaper. Thinking maybe there was still something in the bedding, he washes it again. As he’s remaking his bed, his mother walks in.

“David dear, are you having night time oopsie-daisies again? Your father mentioned you having an interview tomorrow; are you excited about that?” His mom sounds mostly uninterested in his response, but does pause af if she’s expecting one. 

“NO! I’m just trying to make my bedding a little softer and more comfortable. And no, I’m definitely not excited about an interview in Elmdale. While it is better than this town, I have no delusions of happiness coming from this position.”

—-

The next morning he wakes up with his skin less irritated than yesterday but he’s still uncomfortable. The light pouring in from the window is his prime source of pain just now. Usually he closes the curtains each night specifically to stop this from happening. Alexis must have opened them before going for her run. He grabs his sunglasses and puts them on before stumbling to the bathroom. It isn’t until much later when his father mentions that sunglasses aren’t interview attire that he realizes he’s still wearing them. When he takes them off, everything seems too bright but he downs some aspirin and blames it on the fact he’s been wearing them all day.

\----

Having a job surprisingly makes the time fly by. It’s only been a few weeks but he already feels like he’s getting some major progress in making the store more like the upscale boutique Wendy claims it to be. He’s got more work to do but even just the candles he’s brought in have made it much easier to be in the building. 

Testing products for the Blouse Barn gives him an opportunity to buy some new bedding but even that doesn’t help the skin irritation that keeps happening. He eventually asks Stevie if she’s changed laundry detergent, trying to find a reason for the increase in problems. The look she gives him clearly tells him she has not. He’s left wondering if something in the general store’s knock off version, “Tidey Ho”, is causing the problem. 

Thankfully having a job also gives him a little bit of spending money. The first thing he does is visit the weekly farmer’s market in Elmdale. It gives him the opportunity to find some hand made and natural soap for both his laundry and himself. They definitely help and while he’s still struggling with how bright Alexis sometimes keeps it in the room or the dirty clothes she leaves lying around that stink to high heaven, he’ll take whatever relief he can get from all of the little things that seem to keep bugging him.

David is loading his bedding into the washer to try the newest find from the farmer’s market when Stevie walks in and stops in the doorway.

“Huh. I did not expect to find you here. Did your nemesis drop more itching powder into your bed?”

“No, but thank you for your concern. I think it’s your knock off detergent that’s causing issues so I’ve decided to try something new. I picked this dye-free stuff at the Elmdale Farmer’s Market. It has to be better than what you use.”

“Wow, it must be bad for you to willingly do physical labor.”

“It’s just that with my skin bothering me and everything else being too harsh, I keep getting these headaches that won’t go away. If I keep up at this rate, I’ll be spending more on aspirin a month than alcohol and that is not correct.” 

“Maybe you have a tumor,” she says lovingly. Now he knows she’s messing with him. 

“Maybe you’re not helping. Do you think that’s a thing? Should I see Ted?” He asks, falling into their usual routine.

Stevie rolls her eyes and holds up a joint. “Maybe this will help more than seeing a vet.”

\-------

After smoking with Stevie in the lover’s suite, David feels the calmest he’s felt in a while. Nothing is bothering him and he can just feel normal again for a bit.

By dinnertime the pot was starting to wear off and the smell of the lingering smoke is just irritating him. He leaves the room they’d been smoking in, finding Alexis just outside their room but her perfume is so strong it makes his throat hurt. 

“Did you take a bath in that perfume today? God, it’s terrible!” David says, taking a couple steps back, hoping for uncontaminated air. 

Stevie walks out behind him, unsure of what he’s complaining about this time. “Maybe you are going crazy.”

Taking another step back almost colliding with Stevie, David waves his hands in Alexis’s direction and says, “What, are you telling me you can’t smell that? It’s like an orange fucked a jasmine flower all over her.”

“David, you prefer to smell like an old leather jockstrap, so don’t be bitchy with me,” Alexis says and goes into their room.

Stevie decides it’s safer to pull David back to the office and just order pizza as the sibling scuffle has really put a damper on the high she had been enjoying. When the pizza arrives, before she can even crack open the box, David is complaining that it smells too burnt. Looking inside, one side does have a bit of a blackened edge, but it’s hardly burnt. She takes that side and gives David the “unburnt” part but even that he only eats a few bites of one slice.

“Okay, seriously, what is wrong with you? I’ve never seen you not inhale any piece of pizza put in front of you.” Stevie puts down her pizza, clearly wanting to not be distracted by it.

“This pizza sauce is spicy,” David says frustratedly.

“In what world is pizza sauce ever considered spicy? This is our usual. It tastes like usual and that’s not really high praise.” She gestures at the pizza as if to say, ‘it’s pizza in Schitt’s Creek, what the fuck do you expect?’

“Okay, well maybe I’m just looking to cut down on my carbs and don’t want to hear you make fun of me for watching my caloric intake,” He says, trying to distract her.

“Uh huh.” She clearly knows he’s lying but Stevie, to her credit, only gives him a little bit of shit.

\-----

The next weekend David drags Stevie to the Elmdale Farmer’s Market to pick up some more things. 

“Why am I coming with you? You have a vehicle and a license now. You don’t need me to be your driver.” She sounds only sort of annoyed. She must appreciate the change of scenery a bit.  
  
“You’ve been even more antisocial than usual since you inherited the motel. You need to get out. And getting out around here is very limited.” There’s no way David would admit to her that he’s missed hanging out. Between him working and her taking on more responsibilities at the hotel, they haven’t had a lot of time to get together. And while he’s not interested in her as anything more than a friend, he definitely doesn’t want to lose that friendship.

David and Stevie hit up the market and David brings his journal with him, writing down names of places that carry things he likes. He comments to Stevie that she should look into using this natural soap for the hotel as it’s so much better than the grit she’s been using. He also points out some of the other things he’s found that have helped his headaches. Stevie has a “whatever” look on her face the whole time, she’s probably wondering what happens next in the book she was torn away from.

The number of smells and sounds start to really bother David as they’re walking through the market. He gets shorter and shorter with Stevie as the irritations he’s experiencing just keeps getting worse. They pass by an artist’s booth who has a crystal sun-catcher that catches his eye. As he focuses on the colors dancing in the breeze, the smells and sounds that are bothering him fade away. The last thing he remembers is wondering how many colors he can see in the rainbows reflecting out of the crystals.

“David, what the fuck!” Stevie yells. He blinks away the colors and puts his hand to his cheek. It stings and he doesn’t know why.

“Seriously, what the fuck! I’ve been standing here for like five minutes trying to get you to move and you were frozen. Like not blinking or moving, like a freak frozen.” Stevie is clearly unsettled by what’s happened. She grabs his arm and pulls him to a less crowded area. 

David is still touching his cheek. “I was just looking at those sun-catchers and now you’re yelling at me.”

“I tried talking to you but you weren’t paying attention. I even threatened your sweater and it didn’t get a reaction. What the hell, David, does this happen often?” Stevie is starting to sound more worried than pissed.

“I don’t think so. God, my head hurts and now my cheek hurts. Thanks for that.” David says, still bewildered.

“Hey, It wasn’t until I slapped you that you finally snapped out of it. I was starting to freak out. People were noticing and I didn’t know what else to do. Let’s go before you freeze like a statue again. Next time I’ll knee you in the junk.” David doesn’t doubt her.

It’s a quiet ride back as it’s clear David doesn’t feel well and Steve’s still a little concerned. With both of them on off-kilter, now isn’t the time to talk about it but the weirdness is not something so easily dropped. 

\----- 

The next morning David drags himself to breakfast at the Cafe and Stevie follows.

“You’re not getting out of talking about this. You’re the one usually freaking out about a paper-cut needing medical attention. Why aren’t you now?” She says after they’ve ordered what passes for breakfast in Schitt’s Creek.

“Look, I’m well aware I tend to take things...more seriously than other people. But this. This just feels scarier. It comes and goes. I feel like I’m going crazy and the last thing I need is giving everyone around here another reason to stare at me like I’m the weirdo.”

Stevie isn’t sure how to respond to that so they sit in silence for a while as David eats his waffles.

Suddenly David snickers and Stevie asks what’s up. David says quietly that he hears Roland and Jocelyn in the booth behind them talking about Moira’s antics last night. Stevie quirks an eyebrow, glancing behind David, and asks for more information. David relays the conversation until Roland makes some kind of sexual innuendo that makes David’s face look like he ate something sour. “Nope, I did not need to hear that. I don’t think I’ll be eating ever again.” He pushes his waffles away sadly.

“Okay, so don’t freak out but look in the booth behind us.”

“With what I just heard, I really don’t want to see what they’re actually doing.”

Exasperated, Stevie sighs, “David.”

David casually casts a glance behind him and sees that the booth behind them is empty. Losing any pretense of nonchalance, he whips his head around until he sees Roland and Jocelyn at the table by the door, giggling with their heads bent close to each other and clearly playing footsie under the table.

He turns back to look at Stevie, slightly panicked and they both say at the same time, “What the fuck.”

David looks down and stares at his plate, not sure what to do now. His head is starting to pound again. Stevie stares wide eyed at David before saying, “Oh my God,” a minute later.

“I know. This is what I mean. See, even you’re looking at me like I’m a freak now,” David says, sounding resigned.

“Not a freak. David, don’t you get it? You’ve got like superpowers now or something!” Stevie says excitedly.

“Oh yes, the superpower to randomly get crippling headaches at any time of the day. Just call me Captain Aspirin.” David puts his head in his hands. 

“No, that’s not what I mean. It’s your senses, David.”

“I’m sorry, I’m not following you over the pounding in my head and the visual of Roland in a French maid’s outfit.” David gives her a pained look.

“Okay, we’ll come back to that second part in a minute. But I mean, it’s your senses that are giving you headaches. Think about it. Your sense of smell with Alexis’s perfume? The pizza sauce being too spicy for your tastebuds? Spacing out at the farmer’s market?!” She sounds excited to have maybe solved the mystery. 

“The cheap ass laundry detergent you use is bothering me. I mean, maybe. But it’s not like I can control it. You think I wanted to hear about Roland and Jocelyn’s kinky sex life?!” He puts his head back in his hands.

“Hey, you do you. I’m just saying, it all kind of makes sense now.”

“Great. So what do I do about it?”

Stevie grabs a strawberry from David’s discarded waffles and pops it in her mouth. “Get some earmuffs?”


	2. A Store is Born

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place through the end of Season 3

With the Blouse Barn being no more, time starts to pass slowly again. So David does what he always does, and starts overthinking things. His main concern is his senses and keeping them under what little control he has. He’d been thinking about all of the different products he took note of at the farmer’s market since his trip there with Stevie. He knows the farmer’s market only runs until early fall. After that, getting the products he now relies upon will be problematic at best. He’s taken down everyone’s information so he could reach out in the winter but he’s concerned about being the only person trying to get their hands on this stuff. Would they still be making it? What if they ran out? How would he find new farms to buy from?

If he lived somewhere half civilized, this wouldn’t be a problem. There would be multiple stores to choose from but with only the general store in a reasonable distance, his options are limited. He’d spent a lot of time thinking through different options but it wasn’t until he was walking through the general store’s liquidation sale that the idea to open his own store front seemed like an achievable idea.

What he didn’t expect was the world shifting knowledge that everything he’d accomplished with his galleries wasn’t real. He was used to fake. He’d been under no delusion as to the type of people he spent time with in New York. But he’d used the success of the galleries as a buoy for himself that he was able to manage in the world on his own. Now it all felt more like an anchor, trying to pull him under.

While it helped that his mother eventually came around to the store idea, that didn’t help ease his self doubt. Starting a new business was stressful enough as it was... these senses were only making it worse. And, in turn, there were more and more headaches.

At least now when his senses went a little haywire, he knew why and was able to remove himself from the situation. He still got some weird looks, but he’d spent his life getting looked at, so it almost felt normal.

\----

In two weeks, things go from moving too slowly to feeling like he can’t get his feet under him. His business plan has been accepted by the city but that means even more work and stress. David feels stretched thin, trying to keep everything in mind that needed to be done to get the store up and running. 

It finally seems normal for him to wake up with a headache. It was a good day when all of his senses played nice and kept things in the normal range. Today, however, had not been a good day. He woke up to his skin on fire. It wasn’t as bad as it had been in previous bouts but he was on edge, waiting to see if it would get better or worse. Thankfully he’d found that using body milk first thing in the morning seemed to almost create a thin soft barrier between his skin and everything else. Also, thank god for soft sweaters.

He should have known better than to start the morning off talking to his parents with the way he was feeling but they had decent coffee in their room and it smelled amazing. Everything was going fine, he was even fairly entertained, hearing his dad’s new marketing plan using coasters to convince people to “tweet us on Facebook”. But when his dad claps him on the shoulder, all proud of his coaster idea, it sends a spike of pain right to his brain. It didn’t help that it felt like Dad was shouting directly into his ear after that. Taking a deep breath in an attempt to dull the pain, he jokes with his dad, keeping his voice lower than normal, hoping his parents will follow suit. When it’s clear they weren’t getting the hint, he heads out. The walk across town to Ray’s to get his incorporation papers might give him time to get the pounding in his head under control before he has to have an intelligent conversation about his business plan.

The time spent by himself helped a bit, but not much. Walking into Ray’s with a headache to be met with a flash of a camera did not help. Thankfully the second time Ray used his flash, David was able to turn away in time to not be blinded by it. He was frustrated and in pain and Ray not paying him any mind was also not helping. 

When David was able to finally get his attention, Ray called for another person to help him. More yelling. Why was everyone yelling today? David was so distracted by Ray’s voice that was far too loud and the flashing of the camera that he didn’t notice when Patrick first walked in. He turned and looked at Patrick, but between the pounding in his head and Ray yelling, he took no notice of anything in particular, just did his best to be polite over the headache. Yet, somehow, after shaking Patrick’s hand, David felt a little lighter, like maybe this business thing wasn’t going to be as hard as he thought. It helped that Ray was no longer yelling.

But when Patrick starts asking questions, David has answers but they apparently aren’t good enough. Feeling defeated, he leaves, planning on tackling it all himself. Halfway back to the motel, he realizes his headache is completely gone. He’s a little surprised that being snipped at by Patrick didn’t make things worse, but is completely distracted by Stevie asking him to help change the sheets in a couple of rooms.

\----

David keeps himself busy after meeting with Patrick, trying to get everything ready and hoping nothing goes wrong with his business license. It’s a lot of work but it helps keep his mind from worrying about the situation with his senses. And while David had admitted to himself that maybe Patrick wasn’t as snippy as he first thought, he still wasn’t sure how to take him popping by a few weeks later, even if he had a decent excuse. He thought it was strange that Patrick came by with his business license but maybe that’s just another example of how tiny Schitt’s Creek really is. Everyone knows everyone and is all up in everyone else’s business. Why mail it when you could deliver it two blocks away and get a sneak peek inside the store? He’s at least satisfied that it came through without any issues.

Then a couple of days later, Patrick comes by again. David’s first thought is that he’s looking for an in with his sister; it wouldn’t be the first time. But Patrick surprises him with something David wouldn’t have come up with on his own: a suggestion of outside money and a source for it. 

The business expertise is more than welcome and would solve a lot of problems he can see on the horizon. David isn’t used to people offering help so easily. While there’s obviously something in it for Patrick if the store works out, that feels like a really big if for someone you barely know. But Patrick’s sincerity that he was going to get the money gave David an extra level of hope that he hadn’t had in a while.

\----

David should have known he was getting too comfortable. It had been a nice week with Patrick stopping by to help out at the store in the afternoons when he was done at Ray’s. David even felt like all of the work in the store was really helping keep his senses in check. He hadn’t had that many issues and wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. So, really, he should have expected this.

That fucking fucker! Fucking Sebastien Raine. Of course he wanted to take photos of David’s mother, that was how he operated. He **wanted** to screw the Roses. Wanted to see how far they had fallen. 

David’s sitting in the spot between the wall and his bed, head resting on his knees, waiting for his body to stop focusing on fucking Sebastien Raine. The sort-of-kisses on his cheeks in the motel lobby had sent everything into overdrive. Sebastien's proximity made the smell of his overly expensive cologne feel it was being shoved directly up David's nose. The scratch of his wanna-be beard still felt like a burn on his cheeks, five minutes later. 

Even four rooms away, David could hear him moving around; mumbling to himself as he reviewed the pictures from the day. He knows he has to do something about the pictures Sebastien took. His mom would never convince Sebastien to erase them.

As his headaches and problems with his senses have been getting more severe, he’s purposefully avoided physical contact with people. The last time he’d gotten laid was with Jake and that whole situation still left a bad taste in his mouth. His body sure could use some touching but did it have to be fucking Sebastien? Taking a deep breath as he looked at himself in the mirror, David gave himself permission to do this. Because he has a goal, because he has to get that memory card back, he is going to go get laid. But he is also going to remember that Sebastien is here to screw with his family. 

His family. They might not have been close when they lived in New York but they sure are now. David has come to understand the phrase “living in each other’s pockets.” They are his family, for better or worse, and if David has the ability to make things suck less for his family, he is absolutely going to do it. Even if it means fucking Sebastien.

Having prepared his mind and body as much as possible, he throws on the outfit that always got Sebastien going, a black tee and his favorite Rick Owens leather jacket. 

____

Okay that was… interesting. Successful in that David rescued the memory card, and successful in that he’d had the chance to say goodbye on his terms this time. It was a relief to have been In control of the situation, knowing for once what the sex was really about.

It was less successful in that he’d had to take a shower as soon as he could. At least he had been made it through fucking Sebastien without losing control of his senses. The laser focus of needing to take back what had been taken from him all those years ago and needing to protect his family apparently was enough to keep the headache at bay. But David couldn’t handle the actual taste of Sebastien on his tongue, the soap he used in the shower helped wipe that taste away. Even if it was well...soapy. The feel of Sebastien’s come drying on his body was…. awful. David managed to let Sebastien shower first so that he could get the memory card but after that he almost threw Sebastien out of his own shower in his urgency to clean up. Fucking Sebastien. 

David is so happy, so proud to have fucked with Sebastien’s plans. Also, having someone touch him again was good even if it was Sebastien Raine.

It probably doesn’t matter here in Schitt’s Creek. He’d been with Jake and Stevie both, but he hadn’t even been able to find any randoms the last time he went to the Wobbly Elm. In the meantime, more body milk and some ginger ale to get rid of the taste of soap and to settle his stomach. Then sunglasses to start the damn day. At least he had plenty of work in the store to keep both mind and body focused, on something other than fucking Sebastien Raine. 

\------

It had been a rough start to the day but David is feeling better just by being in the store. He figures he has the day to himself to just turn off his brain and work through labeling products. It is exactly what he needs after the Sebastien-filled evening yesterday. So he is surprised when the door swings open and Patrick walks in with his laptop mid-afternoon.

“Hey David, I figured it would be easier for me to finish filling out the grants here since I have a few questions. Is that okay? I don’t wanna distract you or anything.”

While he had been looking forward to being by himself, David is surprised to find that he doesn’t actually mind seeing Patrick. He looks around and points out all of the boxes that are still unopened and grins, “I just have a lot of labels to apply so clearly it will take a fair amount of brain power but I think I can manage talking at the same time.” 

“Great! So how did you even find all this stuff? It seems like you’ve got a lot here and some of the stuff Alexis showed me was pretty unique.” Patrick is just so… cheerful.

David pauses for a second to consider exactly how much to say. He has a fairly large bottle in his hand and holds it up so Patrick can see it better. “Well, I’m fairly sensitive to a lot of artificial products it seems. So finding products that are handmade tend to be easier to handle. Like this is body milk. It’s been a huge help making my skin feel better after dealing with rough fabrics or harsh laundry detergent.”

Patrick looks at David and raises an eyebrow, “Milk? I mean I know it does a body good but how is that different from regular milk?”

David is a little confused by the comment. “I’m not sure what you mean.” 

Patrick points to the bottle and asks,”Does it have an expiration date or do we need to refrigerate it?”

“No. It’s liquid moisturizer, not something you drink. You use it like lotion.”

“Oh, so why call it body milk if you can’t drink it? Shouldn’t it just be called lotion?”

David huffs, “Anyone with a fiber of common sense would know that it’s not actually milk.”

“Except that you quite literally are calling it milk. So, that could be confusing.” Patrick has a small smile on his face, trying to make his point gently.

“No, calling it lotion would be confusing. Body milk is thinner than regular lotion, so a little goes a long way. It’s also used by different skin types than regular lotion so really, I’m being very specific with these labels.”

Patrick moves over to the counter and sets the laptop down, “Ok, you’re the expert. You may need a translation guide for us less informed people though.” He smiles at David, showing he’s not offended by the comments. “So I started a few different grants last night and I was able to get through most of them without issue but need a little more information on the last four in regards to your expectation for contracts with the local vendors. Do you have the same setup for everyone?”

David sets the body milk down and rounds the counter so he can see the forms Patrick is working on. “No. Most of them agreed to a six month initial run which will get them through the winter but then wanted to reevaluate before the spring markets start back up. A few wanted an initial purchase and that was it because they weren’t sure if they would be producing through the winter when I approached them. Do you need me to break them down individually?”

“Nope, that’s actually exactly the information I need. We just have to show we have different options to provide flexibility for our vendors.”

Looking at the screen, David notices quite a few documents open. “Just how many of these have you applied for?”

Patrick blushes and looks a little embarrassed but opens up a spreadsheet. “Currently there are fifteen open applications. I finished eleven of them myself but I wanted you to look over them before I send them off. The other four I needed your help to complete. I’m tracking them here in this spreadsheet so I can follow up if I don’t hear back in a reasonable time.

“Oh. Um. Wow. That’s a lot of grants.”

“Unfortunately we won’t get all of them but it’s better to apply for too many than too few. We’ll also want to do this annually, to see if any new grants have come up.”

David can’t help his grin. “So you think we’ll still be doing this next year?”

Patrick’s smile matches David’s. “I know we will be.”

\----

Having Patrick and Stevie meet is just as nerve-wracking as he expected. As if dealing with Alexis’s lice wasn’t stressing him out enough, now he has to deal with his best friend and business partner ganging up on him. 

As if Stevie can read his mind she heads towards the door. “Well, since you’re having so much fun, I’m going to head out. Besides, I wouldn’t want to contribute to an imbalanced social dynamic.”

David is outraged. “Um, excuse me? You promised to help me unload these boxes today!”

“I did one whole box. Plus when I agreed to help you I wasn’t expecting to have to fend off an infestation at the motel. Unless you always want to keep worrying about bugs crawling onto your head, I need to help Mr. Rose take care of it today.”

David visibly shudders. “Fine. Just go. What time should I come by tonight?”

“How about nine? I’ve got alcohol but no food, so eat before you show up. It’s enough I’m putting you up, I don’t need to feed you too.”

“Thank you for your caring. I appreciate it. Now please go make sure my room is bug free, unless you want me to permanently move in.”

“Yeah, no thanks. It is nice to meet you, Patrick. Don’t let David make you unload all of the boxes in my absence. He can use the upper body workout anyway.” 

Patrick smirks at Stevie, clearly amused.

And before David has time to say anything to that, Stevie is out the door and he is left alone with Patrick.

“I came by to have you sign the last two grants that need to go out. Before you get all hot and sweaty unloading boxes, would you sign them please?” 

Looking over, David sees Patrick blushing and wonders what that’s about. 

David sets down the bottle in his hand and makes his way around boxes over to where Patrick is pulling paper out of his portfolio. “Don’t listen to Stevie, there’s no way she would have agreed to do something that requires breaking a sweat.”

It doesn’t take too long to get through the paperwork and Patrick spends a few minutes reorganizing everything before putting it back in the portfolio.

“So since Stevie left, could you use some help unloading? It looks like there’s still a fair amount to get through.”

“I’d love some help,” David says gratefully. “Do you not need to send that paperwork off?”

“It can all wait until tomorrow. I want to go back through everything one last time before sending it out so I can do that tonight. I mean, since you’ll be hanging out with Stevie, I don’t want to be the only one not having fun.” 

Man, Patrick has got the straight man delivery down pat. Gods forbid he and Stevie ever get into a contest.

“Okay. I’m not sure hanging at Stevie’s to avoid lice is my idea of a great night but I definitely would put it above reviewing grant paperwork. I think we have fairly different definitions of fun. But, yes, if you could start where she left off, that would help.”

Patrick grabs the body milk box Stevie left and starts unloading it, “You know David, you mentioned being fairly sensitive to artificial things before. I can’t imagine a shower cap under a wool cap feels really comfortable. Seems you’re pretty safe from lice here, why don’t you take them off before your head is irritated.”

David reaches up and pets the hat protectively. “Well no, I’m not worried about lice here. However, I am concerned that there is some massively horrible hat-head going on and I’m pretty sure it’s better for everyone that I just leave them on. I wouldn’t want to subject anyone to what’s going on there.” 

Patrick dips his head and smiles. “I’m fairly certain we don’t have to worry about an influx of shoppers just yet so it’s just you and me here. It's a safe bet that I won’t faint at the sight of flattened hair...no matter how coiffed it usually is.”  
  
Between the stress of the lice situation and knowing his hair must look terrible, David is feeling a little vulnerable. “Maybe later. I don’t wanna lose my place on these bottles I’m unpacking right now.

Patrick drops the subject and asks after more of the products. It’s nice to see him so interested. No one else has really cared about what David has done or the things he’s chosen. He’s personally sampled everything he’s brought in, so seeing Patrick interested reassures David that he’s made the right choice bringing him into the business.

A little while later when David is in the bathroom, he uses some water and his wet hands to remedy the worst of the hat-hair situation. He tosses the shower cap into the trash and puts the wool cap in the back office. Patrick glances up at him when he walks out, giving a small smile but doesn’t say anything. Just that simple act makes David feel more comfortable and less stressed out...like everything is going to be okay. Yeah, having Patrick here is definitely right.

\----

The day before the opening, David is a nervous wreck. It’s playing hell with his senses today too. At this point he’s used to waking up with some kind of skin irritation but this morning was the worst it’s been in quite a while. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, his sense of smell is out of control and the scent from coffee in the office is bothering him. There’s no way he’ll be able to eat breakfast today.

Even using an extra amount of body milk this morning hasn’t helped bring his skin back to normal. Knowing it’s going to be a rough one, he takes an extra aspirin, finds his softest sweater and makes sure his sunglasses are on before opening the door and heading to the store.

It’s no surprise to find Patrick there already. He’s a morning person. The one fault he’s found in Patrick so far. Aside from stealing his juice.

“Morning, David!” 

While Patrick spoke in his normal voice, it still surprised David and he flinched a bit in response.

Patrick notices and sets aside the paperwork he’d been working on at the counter. “Everything okay? You look like you had a rough night. Did Stevie convince you to try some of the new wine we got in earlier this week?”

“No, we did that the night the bottles came in and I’m well versed in handling hangovers at this point.” David can hear the pain in his own voice.

“Okay, so is there anything I can do to help?” David sees Patrick reach toward him and then put his hand back down on the counter. “I’m just finishing up our opening checklist so we can make sure everything is set for tomorrow. Right now it doesn’t seem like there’s too much left to do.”

“I’ll be fine, I just need the aspirin to kick in. It’s just irritation from harsh chemicals. I’m guessing laying in bed all night considering all of the ways this could go wrong didn’t help things either.”

“David, we’re okay. Like I said, there isn’t a lot left to do before tomorrow. We have everything under control. No stress needed.”

David sighs and sets his bag down. “Ah, but stress is my specialty.” While the logical part of his brain knows Patrick is right, it doesn’t help quiet the anxiety in his head as much as he’d like. “Okay, show me. Let’s finish it so I can lay in bed later tonight worrying about what we forgot to put on the list.”

\----

Patrick was right and after only three hours, everything on the list was done. David is a little surprised at how confident he feels about tomorrow’s opening considering how stressed he was when he woke up this morning. Hopeful, he asks, “So that’s really it? That’s all that was on our list? Are you sure?"

Patrick shrugs. “I think so. We knocked out a lot this morning. How about we grab lunch and run back through everything? If we come up with anything, we can come back and finish it and if not, we can head home and get a good night’s rest before opening tomorrow.”

It’s then that David realizes just how hungry he is. Since he was feeling so awful this morning, he never grabbed breakfast. On top of that, his headache is completely gone. Usually with a rough start like he had this morning would require at least two if not three doses of aspirin to really knock back the pain. Not willing to look a gift horse in the mouth he tells Patrick, “Yes please. I could eat.”

Emboldened by how much better he’s feeling, David orders the meatloaf even though he hasn’t tried it since the last time it was way too salty. But it is one of the few dishes he actually kind of liked at the Cafe and having it off limits was wearing on him. 

When Twyla dropped off their plates, David hesitates before eating, feeling a little unsure if his bold decision was a little premature.

Patrick puts down his fork. “What’s wrong David? I think this is the first time I’ve eaten a bite of my food before you’ve started. It seems like you’re feeling better than you were this morning or are you still not well?” 

“No, I’m okay. I just want to stay that way. Last time I tried the meatloaf it didn’t go so well, so I’m just a bit nervous.”

Patrick doesn’t say anything but quirks his eyebrow, seemingly waiting for David to take a bite. When he does, it’s just like he remembered before the salt incident. It’s not the best meatloaf ever, really it barely hits on good, but having it taste like before is such a relief that David lets out a little sigh and slumps down a bit on the bench.

“Well clearly I need to try the meatloaf next time.” Patrick looks amused.

David would have been a little embarrassed if it wasn’t so plain on Patrick’s face that he was happy to see David enjoying the food.

“It’s just nice you know, to be able to eat this again. The last time I tried it, it hurt my mouth and I couldn’t finish it. I was worried after that that my edible options on the menu had taken a drastic hit.”

“How many things bother you? Is there anything specific I should be on the lookout for to help you? I don’t want to grab lunch sometime for us and have you go into anaphylactic shock.”

“It’s, um, not exactly like that.” David pauses as he’s not sure how much to say. Stevie figured it out herself, and David’s never actually told anyone else. Over the last few weeks he’s really gotten to know Patrick and he wouldn’t have let him be as involved with the store if there wasn’t some trust there...but this is harder. His past in New York and his friends there didn’t actually encourage vulnerability.

David takes another bite of meatloaf to give himself some time to think. Patrick doesn’t push the subject and just lets David eat which actually makes him comfortable enough to tell Patrick about it. That way he can see how he reacts and go from there.

He still takes a second and glances around to make sure no one is paying attention to them and that Twyla is taking care of some other customers.

“Sometimes my mouth becomes overly sensitive. It’s not always a particular thing, I haven’t been able to narrow down what causes it but when it happens, things don’t taste right and it tends to be too overwhelming for me to eat.”

Patrick stops eating and focuses on David. The look on Patrick’s face is making David nervous, worried he may have said too much.

“So is this like the issues you have with your skin getting irritated? Sounds fairly similar.”

David didn’t think he’d connect the dots that fast, but there’s no denying it. “Yes. It’s the same type of thing.”

“And what else bothers you? I notice you wearing sunglasses a lot, do your eyes get irritated easily?”

Fuck. David should have realized Patrick is smart and attentive. He doesn’t want to lie but he also really doesn’t want to get into all of it right now. “Yes. But it’s just a minor inconvenience. You’ll probably see me take aspirin now and then, that helps keep the headaches at bay when things go wonky.”

“You get headaches from this too? David, this sounds like something you should see a doctor about.” Patrick sounds… distressed for him. 

“Nope. No thank you. It’s not that bad and I can’t replicate anything so it’s better for me just to handle things when they pop up. Besides, I have the products that gave me the idea for the store to help me. Hell, when I’m in the store itself I rarely have any problems, so I have a great excuse to dive into this business and make it successful.” Signaling he’s done talking about this, David says, “Speaking of which, what’s left on the list?”

Patrick goes with the change of subject and shows him the paper. “Yes, I checked twice just like Santa so after lunch we can enjoy an afternoon of freedom before becoming successful businessmen tomorrow.” Patrick smiles, looking at David with something that David doesn’t recognize.

\----

Surprisingly the next morning David wakes up feeling better than expected. Going through everything with Patrick did wonders to settle his nerves and while he’d never be considered a calm man, his anxiety was only slightly elevated.

The day passes in a blur. He’d had some lingering worries about so many people being in the store at once causing him problems with his senses, but he didn't even end up with a headache. He knows Patrick being there definitely contributed to that. Patrick managed the counter and helped restock things as needed. They exchanged glances and smiles throughout the day, both seemingly awed by how well it was all going.

By the end of the evening, David feels better than he has in a long time. When he and Patrick hug to a successful launch, he somehow feels even better. He can’t stop the smile spreading on his face as it seems a weight is lifted from his shoulders as his senses turn up slightly, but in a comfortable way. He can smell all of the subtle notes in Patrick’s cologne that he’s never noticed before: spicy basil, soft sage and suede under a sheer musk. It smells amazing. Patrick’s shirt is a rough contrast to David’s super soft sweater, and he can’t stop himself running his fingers across his back, enjoying the texture mixing with the heat from his body. He’d gladly stay here for a while, just concentrating on Patrick but the lights flicker and it’s clear his sight is also up higher than normal as it's really distracting.

David reluctantly lets go as Patrick promises he can fix it. Thankfully his senses seem to go back to normal instead of spiking.

“That reminds me, you never had the lights on our to do list. When did you even get them done?”

“Ahh, well the lights and insurance were actually what caused me to create the list in the first place. I took care of both before you came in yesterday. That’s when I realized then I should probably write everything down so we didn’t miss anything.”

“So maybe you’re more than just the numbers guy,” David says, feeling thankful.

“Maybe, but this numbers guy has to close out the register for the evening. If you start picking up the trash left over, I’ll help restock when I’m finished. I think I’ll wait to tackle the lights in the morning though. If I try now, there’s a pretty good chance one of us is going to end up electrocuted.”

\----

David is good with keeping his response to change to himself. For the most part he just waits for the other shoe to drop. Something happens and he says “okay” and waits for someone to fill him in. Tonight Mr. Straight Leg Mid-range Denim surprised him. He was feeling sorry for himself when he asked Patrick if his family had ever forgotten his birthday. He regretted asking almost immediately, particularly when Patrick started going on about how they sometimes had two parties because he had so many friends and relatives. So when Patrick asked him to dinner, David assumed it was just pity. That’s also why he invited Stevie. He figured if he had at least one other friend there, it would look a little less pathetic. But it seems like he missed the memo. Thankfully Stevie was more perceptive than David and knew even before the gift was opened that this was a date. However when he opened it, there was no denying it. Patrick’s birthday gift had taken David’s breath away. Getting their first sale’s receipt framed wasn’t something he just grabbed at the store before coming to dinner. Patrick had to have printed it opening day and saved it. That meant more to David than he could put into words, especially when Patrick tried to wave it off as “nothing”. 

While he was glad Stevie was there to knock some sense into him, he was happier when she left. There wasn’t any pity in what Patrick was doing. He was nice, if a bit of a smart ass. He cared. And David still wasn’t used to dealing with that.

David spent the first half of dinner after Stevie left wondering what clues he’d missed.

Patrick asked him out on a date and he didn’t notice…how insulting is that? Hopefully Patrick would write it off as stress from opening the store and not take it personally. The question of the night was, how was this going to end? Patrick really hadn’t sent any signals that he was anything other than het...and David has been ignoring his growing attraction to Patrick for a while. But getting romantically involved with his business partner just doesn’t seem wise. On the other hand, when had he ever not followed where his dick had led?

\----

By the time they pulled in front of the hotel, David had admitted to himself that maybe he wasn’t just following his dick. The evening with Patrick had been a lot of fun and one of his better dates. Realistically, that’s not saying much considering how poorly some of his dates have gone in the past but it means a lot that this wasn’t a terrible failure so far. There’s still plenty that can go wrong but when the moment seems right, he can’t stop himself from leaning toward Patrick, hoping he’s reading the signals correctly. When Patrick leans in himself, David wraps his hand around Patrick’s neck. As their lips touch, David feels each of the soft individual hairs from Patrick’s neck on his fingers. The slight scratch of Patrick’s stubble across his chin feels amazing. Once again he’s treated to the richness of Patrick’s cologne as well as a softer scent that he can’t place. The kiss doesn’t last long but when he pulls away, he feels like that might have been the best kiss of his life.

\----

Walking to his room after Patrick dropped him off, David was amazed and thrilled. He was also a little scared; gods forbid anything in his life happen without tons of anxiety. 

His heart might actually be pounding but in a totally good way. He’d taken their business in his hands when he’d kissed Patrick and there was no small amount of concern that he was taking a huge risk with basically everything important in his life right now. But it had felt right. And, of course, Patrick was nothing but charming about it. “Thank you for making that happen for us.” Who says that? So… impossibly sweet.

Flying high on a new relationship was always fun, even though this one had major potential for disaster if it doesn’t go well. A significant bonus in all of this is that kissing Patrick didn’t push any of his senses to spike painfully. If anything, his senses almost seemed to heighten the kiss. Dinner, too, had been blessedly calm. Now if that’s Patrick or something else, he couldn’t say. But for the moment, he was content to just see where things go and hope nothing crashes and burns.


	3. You Collect Me with Your Steady Hand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes us through Season 4 Episode 2: The Pregnancy Test
> 
> Chapter title comes from Ben Platt - Ease My Mind

David should have known better. Telling Alexis that this was the healthiest first day of a relationship he’d ever had was asking for trouble. The day had been like a rollercoaster from hell. He thought he’d ended the day on a high note...it was really nice to be able to kiss Patrick. He’d thought about it so many times but figured Patrick wasn’t interested. David had never been so happy to be wrong. 

Which is exactly why he wasn’t willing to screw this up. If staying over was too fast for Patrick, he’d suck it up and stay in his parents room. He just didn’t expect it to be as bad as it was. Since he figured he wasn’t staying at the hotel, he’d packed away his bedding. So not only was he back to the scratchy linens that he swears he can still feel the gritty laundry detergent on, he’s also stuck on a tiny cot that he barely fits on.

That was more than enough to set his senses on edge but when you combined it with three other adults in one small hotel room, it was a lot. He didn’t sleep much and what little rest he got wasn’t good.

Unsurprisingly, he wakes up with a headache. Thankfully he always keeps aspirin in his bag so it was handy to grab even with Alexis in the bathroom. He doesn’t hesitate and throws back three with a glass of water. He almost spits it back out because the water tastes so bad. That hasn’t happened before so clearly it’s going to be a rough day. 

Needing to distract himself, he puts on his Uggs and heads to the office to bother Stevie. However, when he opens the door he notices a guest checking out so he sits on the couch and wraps his arms around himself, tucking his chin to his chest.

It only takes a few minutes for the guest to make their way out and David isn’t surprised that Stevie doesn’t acknowledge him. It’s pretty early and she’s not exactly a social butterfly. For a moment, he considers just heading back to the room but there’s no way Alexis will be done yet. 

David decides to break the silence. “So, last night sucked.”

“Hmmm,” Stevie doesn’t seem to want to engage. It makes sense as it’s still fairly early, but she doesn’t even have a book out to distract herself with so what could possibly be more important than him at this moment?

“The cot you provided was not at all comfortable so I fully blame you for the raging headache I currently have.”

“Or it could be the fact you spent the night in the same room as your parents and sister in a super awkward situation. Don’t blame me because you couldn’t convince Patrick to let you sleep over.”

“We’re taking things slow. I’m trying to respect that. And, unlike you suspected, he’s not Bill Gates and doesn’t have a guest room. I figured it was safer to just stay at the hotel. I didn’t expect it to be as rough as it was. I mean, I knew my father snored but being in the same room when it happened was an experience I hope to never have again.”

“Well hopefully I won’t find another dead body today and you can go back to your pretentious bedding and sharing a room with your sister.” 

David wants to come up with something witty to say back but they’re interrupted by another guest coming into the office so he heads back to the room, hoping Alexis is done. The aspirin hasn’t cut the headache or skin irritation at all so he needs to shower as soon as he can.

\----

When David finally makes it to the store, he’s not doing a lot better. However, seeing Patrick at the counter makes David smile. Patrick looks up from the register when David walks in and smiles in return.

Patrick comes around the counter to give David a kiss on the cheek. “Hey, how was the Rose family sleepover.”

David is tempted to complain, especially since he didn’t get it all out when talking to Stevie, but he doesn’t want Patrick to feel bad. “Fine. But I will be glad to be back in my own bed tonight.”

“I’m happy to hear there isn’t another dead body at the hotel at least. I did have my worries when you texted about the cots in your parent’s room.”

David sets his bag down in the back room but grabs the aspirin out so he can take another dose. It’s been a few hours and while his skin feels better now, the headache is still raging. He shakes out a few pills and starts looking for the leftover disposable cups they had from the opening when Patrick walks up behind him and wraps his arms around David’s waist.

“I need to head to the bank to get a couple things notarized. I should only be about 45 minutes. Need me to grab anything while I’m out?”

David leans back into Patrick’s embrace. “Caffeine. Lots and lots of caffeine.” 

Patrick kisses the back of David’s neck and then steps back. “Easy enough.”

“Before you go, do you know where we put the disposable cups from the opening? They’re not where I expected them to be.”

Patrick walks over to a shelf behind the desk and grabs a box from the lowest shelf. David enjoys the view and makes a mental note to put more things on bottom shelves from now on.

Patrick puts the box on the desk and opens it, “Tada. I didn’t want them getting mixed into our stock items so I’ve been putting any of our supplies on this shelving unit. Did you need one?”

“Yes please.” David takes the cup from Patrick and walks to the bathroom sink to get some water. 

Patrick just watches and waits until David has taken the pills before asking, “I thought you said you were fine? Everything okay?”

“It was a bit of a rough night and therefore a rough morning. However, I am feeling better but in my experience, taking a second dose of aspirin is usually needed to really chase the last bits of my headache away.”

Patrick looks a little concerned. “I remember you mentioning some irritation to harsh chemicals. Was there something in your parent’s room that was bothering you?”

David tries to lighten the mood a bit. “You mean other than my parents? No. I think stress sometimes just makes me a little more sensitive and yesterday was a bit much. Ending the evening a foot away from my entire family wasn’t a great way to get a good night’s sleep.”

“Do you want me to wait to go to the bank? I can stay and work the front of the store if you need to relax back here for a bit, I don’t mind.”

“No. Really, I appreciate it, but like I said, I’m already better than I was this morning and this second dose will kick in in a bit. Plus, you’re going to bring me back caffeine and I’d like that sooner rather than later.”

Patrick doesn’t look completely convinced, but walks towards the door anyway. “Okay, I’ll make it as quick as possible. Call me if you need anything.”

He opens the door but doesn’t walk out. “Oh, and I was thinking about it last night...what do you think about coming over Friday night? Maybe order some pizza and watch a movie? Ray will be home….he has a photo shoot...but it would be nice to hang out outside of work.”

Any remnant of the headache flies away as David feels a lightness in his chest. Patrick is normally so sure of himself, but this seemed almost shy and a little unsure, and he’s blushing again. Maybe Patrick’s worried that asking a guy out on a second date is different...but it’s not.

David smiles and rubs the ring on his index finger so he does something with his hands other than reaching out and grabbing Patrick. “I’d love that.”

\------

His head hitting the wall made him wince. “Okay, so that kind of hurt,” David says, lifting his head. His hands are still full of Patrick though, so clearly he’s not in that much pain. 

Patrick slowly pulls back from where he’d tucked his face into the joint of David’s neck and collarbone and kisses the spot, a promise to return soon written on his face.

Patrick’s eyes shift to David’s face and he says in a whisper, “Alone at last!!” He leans in to kiss David but can’t, the smile on his face is too big. David tugs Patrick a little closer and his hands slide down from Patrick’s waist to grab his ass. The smile disappears from Patrick’s face and David is about to apologize and give Patrick some space when Patrick licks his lips and then kisses David so hard their teeth click. 

After another moment of kissing, David gives Patrick’s ass a gentle squeeze and then returns his hands to Patrick’s waist, pushes him back a bit and says, “Against the wall isn’t as much fun as you’d think. Legs give out, knees ache on floors; it’s just a mess for people our age. Okay to move this to your bed?”

Patrick indicates his approval with a deep breath that catches in his throat. He backs up the six feet from the wall to the bed, pulling David with him by the belt loops. Then he reaches for the bottom of David’s sweater and asks in a whisper, “Off?”

David, who is attempting to let Patrick lead, groans not very quietly and says, “Hell yes!”

“Shhhhhh! When Ray finishes that photo shoot he’ll come up and expect to chat if he remembers we’re here. So shush!” As soon as David’s sweater passes his face, Patrick is kissing him again. The problem is David doesn’t just throw his clothes on the floor, he folds them and places them safely with care. Except now he can’t without interrupting their kiss. With the hand not full of sweater David pulls one side of Patrick’s button down out of the top of his jeans.

“You too?” he asks quietly. When Patrick pulls back to reach for the buttons of his shirt, David quickly takes a step back and folds up his sweater and….wonders where to put it down that it will be safe. He hears a chuckle in the mostly dark room and lets go reluctantly as Patrick takes the sweater from him to put it on top of the dresser on the other side of the room. He comes back to David just as he’s finished undoing the last button so David reaches out to help. Patrick lets him finish taking it off and then laughs quietly when he realizes that David is in the same situation again, not knowing where it’s safe to put the shirt. Patrick reaches for the button down hanging in David’s hand. He tugs on it and then drops it on the floor. David huffs. 

“It’s fine there. Trust me,” Patrick says as he reaches up and pulls David’s head down to kiss him again briefly. “Bed please,” he murmurs as he removes his hands from David’s body. 

David is definitely looking forward to whatever Patrick decides comes next. First though… he sits on the bed and takes Patrick’s hands to catch his attention.

“Hang on.” David says, “Just for a sec.” He pulls Patrick forward, to the space in between his legs. Patrick waits but is visibly impatient. “This doesn’t have to be a big discussion but I want to put this out there. I want you to know that you decide how far and how fast this goes. I don’t want to rush you and I don't need to be in charge. If you want me to take the lead, I’m fine with that, but until then I think this should be your show.” 

Patrick takes a deep breath. “Thank you, David. I appreciate that. I’m definitely good so far.” Patrick takes David’s face in both of his hands and tips it up to kiss him, then lets go and nudges his shoulders back. David does that stupid awkward backward crawl that no one on planet Earth can make look hot and is relieved when Patrick joins him rather than commenting. 

Settling together in the middle of Patrick’s bed, Patrick nudges David onto his back and props his head on one hand. 

David smiles widely and licks his lips as Patrick traces his eyebrow and down to his cheek bone with one finger. Fitting David's jaw into his palm, Patrick rubs his thumb back and forth gently over David’s lips. 

David catches Patrick’s thumb in his lips as it goes by. He opens his mouth inviting him in, at first Patrick does dip his thumb in but removes it, and leans down to kiss David. “There can’t be too much kissing,” Patrick says between kisses.

As moments pass, Patrick scoots a little closer and hooks a leg around one of David’s, who turns a bit and suddenly they are up close and personal. Pressed against each other, they have forgotten that anyone or anything exists outside of this bed, this moment. David slides one hand down Patrick’s side, heading for his ass but Patrick lets out a giggle. David stops. Apparently Patrick is ticklish. He tucks his hand under the tee shirt Patrick still has on and spreads his fingers wide across Patrick’s side. 

“David. Don’t.” Patrick’s already short of breath from kissing. David grins madly and wiggles his fingers just a little and Patrick laughs. David swoops in and covers Patrick’s mouth. He removes his hand from under the tee and slides it down to its original goal. 

David pulls back from Patrick’s lips just far enough to promise, “We’ll come back to that later.” Patrick rolls his eyes and pulls David on top of him. David’s breathing speeds up. He’s trying to be mindful of this being new to Patrick but when Patrick gropes his ass and pushes his own dick up at the same time…David’s lost.

Letting out a groan he no longer remembers to keep quiet, David leans in and opens his senses to experience Patrick like he was never able to before. The sound of his labored breathing, the rich taste and smell of him, the slightly strained smile on Patrick’s face, the erection pressing hard against his own and Patrick’s hands… one on his ass urging him forward and the oth—

“Patrick, are you okay?” The bedroom door opens and the light flips on. David is confused, what the hell is going on? He turns quickly toward the source of the new voice, preparing to defend himself and his partner until…. 

“ **Ray**?! What the heck, man?! **My** room!” Patrick’s voice brings David back to himself, reminds him where he is and assures him there’s not an actual attack forthcoming. It’s just Nosey Nosey Ray. David sighs heavily.

“Oh! Right! Of course! So sorry.” There is a long pause and the light stays on and Ray stays in the doorway.

“Ray you can go!” Patrick says, sounding seriously annoyed, bordering on pissed. 

“Right. Sorry…. Door open or door closed?” 

Part of David’s brain is registering that Ray is genuinely asking the question. The other part of his brain, the one that’s in command of his mouth right now says, “Are you kidding me?! Closed, Ray!”

The door closes and David drops his forehead onto Patrick’s. “For fucks sake.” The mood is well and truly broken. He rolls off of Patrick and immediately feels the physical loss of not touching him. He reaches out and wraps one hand around Patrick’s wrist and feels much better. 

With a huge sigh, David sits up on the edge of the bed and adjusts himself. Patrick rolls to his side and curls around David who turns and puts one hand on Patrick’s shoulder, stroking with his thumb.

“David. I’m **so** sor—“ Patrick starts.

“No. Hey. Totally not your fault.” David strokes his hand down Patrick’s arm and then tucks his hand back under his tee. “We did learn a couple of useful things though.” David says, managing a small smile. 

“Not funny, David.” Patrick sounds like he’s trying to catch up with where they suddenly find themselves. 

Mood shot and no longer horizontal, David says bitterly, “No, it’s a fucking travesty.”

“I’m going to head home,” David says and he grabs his sweater and pulls it back on. 

“Do you want me to drive you?” Patrick asks, sounding unsure of his welcome. 

David can’t let that sit. He doesn’t want Patrick to dwell on anything other than the almost sex that was totally hot. 

“Okay two things. One. No, I’m going to walk to regain my composure. A drive home wouldn’t help with that. Two. Until the interruption that was amazing. We’ll figure it out, I don’t know what the answer is, but we will find one.” David leans down and kisses Patrick sweetly.

“Good night David.”

“Good night Patrick.”

On his way out the front door Ray tries to apologize. David stops and stares at him until Ray stops talking. Then David walks out the front door into the cool night air, hoping to find composure on his way home. 

\------

Their attempt at Ray’s had been a bit of a disaster so when Jake shows up at Stevie’s, David is certain he’s in for the same kind of night. But Patrick was taking things well and he’s happy to find out how hard it is to kiss when you’re smiling and laughing. Despite everything that had just happened, he and Patrick are determined to make use of their alone time. “Lock it up,” Patrick had said. So he’d shut up and started kissing. Getting horizontal was really more the plan than talking about their pasts anyway. 

“Mphss,” David mumbles into Patrick’s mouth. Patrick raises an eyebrow and pulls back a bit from the kiss. 

“Try again?” 

“Shoes. Let’s save ourselves some time and take off shoes and socks now.”

“You really know how to keep the romance going, David.” Patrick smiles but does lean down and start taking off his shoes and socks. 

“I’m sorry, but you’d rather we wait and do more of the awkward thing once it finally dawns on us that shoes are uncomfortable and also in the way?” David pauses as if to wait for an answer but actually his brain is spinning. “Wait. I know we were gonna lock it up but maybe we should take a minute?”

“Um. Okay. For what?” Patrick finishes tucking his socks in his shoes and sits back up.

“I was thinking about the other night at Ray’s when I was in the shower tonight.”

“Great! So why are we talking?!” Patrick reaches for David. 

David grabs his hands and holds them in his lap. “We’re talking because when I was replaying things in my head, I watched your face and at the end you seemed stressed in addition to turned on. So I want to check in on this before we start whatever we end up getting into tonight. Was that okay? I was pretty pissed off and left really quickly so I’m not sure I gave you the time to say anything even if you wanted to.”

Patrick pulls one hand free and reaches up to touch David’s face. “My hero.”

David pulls back looking a little peeved and says, “Okay, it’s fine if you don’t want to talk. Just say so, don’t mock me.” 

“Woah!” Patrick says tightening his hold on the hand in David’s lap. “I was not mocking. I was genuinely calling you my hero. You’re very thoughtful to ask and to give me space. That’s not always been my experience and so I appreciate it.”

“Not alw—!“ David looks alarmed. 

“Shit. Wait. Stay with me. Don’t jump to conclusions.” David closes his mouth and nods. 

“Teenagers often don’t think about if their partners are actually with them. They just assume and go from there.”

“Okay.” David says, waiting for the part he wasn’t supposed to jump to conclusions about.

“I wasn’t kidding when I said that you make me feel right. All of the things you’re supposed to feel? They were all there at Ray’s too. Here’s the thing though. Sex has never been easy for me. My head and my heart have to be involved along with my dick. That just doesn’t even occur to teenagers. At least not the ones I went to school with. So yes, I’ve done this before with a couple of girls; but no, it wasn’t particularly great. It was more like peer pressure.” Patrick takes a deep breath and blows it out. The look on Patrick’s face is almost begging David to understand. 

“So you were good at Ray’s? Nothing we did was upsetting you?” David asks carefully. 

“Nope. I was completely on board with where we were. Ray doesn’t know how close he came to dying that night. My stress was about coming in my pants. Because that would have been awkward.”

David lets out a sigh and chuckles. “Yeah, I was there too but then I was past the point of caring. Maybe we can lose some of these clothes then?” An eyebrow raised and a smirk on his face, David waits for Patrick’s response. 

Blushing, Patrick smiles. “Yeah, okay.” 

Standing, David holds out his hand for Patrick. When he’s close enough David leans down to kiss him, but chastely. He doesn’t want them to get caught up. Yet.

Patrick takes off his sweater and motions to David. “You too please.” David pulls his sweater off over his head and puts it, folded of course, on Stevie’s kitchen counter. After that the tee comes off and joins the sweater. Then he walks back over to Patrick and reaches out for the button on his jeans. “These too?” A quick look at Patrick’s face and David can see he’s in favor.

Patrick kisses David’s recently revealed collarbone, “I’ll get mine.” They sit down on the edge of the bed at almost the same time. Patrick just shoves his jeans off his feet. David gets back up and folds his jeans and puts them with the rest of his clothes. He turns and sees Patrick is already in the middle of the bed waiting for him. Staring and half hard by the looks of it. 

Patrick smiles and says, “Come on.” The bed is only five or six steps away but that is definitely too far right now. Crossing the space quickly, David lays down on his side. He tugs Patrick onto his side too so they are face to face. David kisses him. Gently and slowly at first but it quickly becomes more. Hand sliding down to Patrick’s ass, David pulls their bodies closer together. Their erections are still firming up, but are hard enough for pressure to feel good.

David rolls onto his back, pulling Patrick with him. He moans as Patrick’s weight settles on him. David can feel Patrick smile in their kiss as his hand is wandering across David’s chest. He plucks at a nipple and David presses his dick up into Patrick’s. Patrick slips two fingers into David’s waistband and says “Okay if these come off?”

“Yeah, of course.” David smiles broadly, he’s fully hard now. 

“Good thing we took our shoes and socks off already. It saved us valuable time just now,” Patrick says with a grin.

David raises an eyebrow, reaches out and puts one hand, fingers splayed on Patrick’s side on his ribs. “Really? You want to mock me right now?” And wiggles his fingers just a little. 

“No! No! You’re right I definitely do not!” Patrick says quickly, trying not to laugh. He leans down to kiss David and slides a hand from David’s shoulder to his hip, stroking the inside of David’s hip. Reaching slowly for David’s cock he says, “This okay?”

Groaning as Patrick takes him in hand, David says breathily, “Blanket permission. Anything you want. If I object I’ll say so.” 

Giving Patrick a minute before he reaches out, he apparently waits too long. Patrick looks up and says, “Touch me too, David. I’ve been looking forward to your hands on me.”

David groans and says, “Don’t say stuff like that unless you want this to be over very quickly.”

“So I shouldn’t tell you that at the end of the night the reason it takes me so long to count down the register is because I’m so busy watching your hands as they fold things and restock things that I forget where I am and have to start over again?”

“Jesus! No! Stop talking.”

“Well if you insist.” Patrick scoots down a bit and kisses David’s collarbone on his way toward his nipples. 

Wanting to watch Patrick come, David renews his efforts on Patrick’s dick and soon has Patrick moaning, his hand loses its grip and rhythm on David. David revels in the sounds Patrick is making, he loves that the pink in his cheeks is getting brighter. He watches Patrick reach the point of no return and gentles his hand as Patrick begins to come down. Patrick’s forehead is on his chest as he tries to get his breath back. 

“Sorry. I’ll just be a minute,” he says. 

“No problem. Watching you was almost enough to get me off. It won’t take much.” 

“I can’t wait to see,” Patrick says, still a little breathless. He begins to stroke David again. First brushing the spot at the bottom of the head of his dick and then stroking all of the way down past David’s balls to run his fingers back and then forward on his perineum.

“Ah! Christ, Patrick.” Patrick’s hand slides back up to the tip of his dick and David is coming. Patrick strokes him through it only stopping when David moves his hand away from his dick. Resting a moment, they both just stare at each other unable to do anything but grin. 

“Can you believe it?” David says breathlessly. Patrick raises an eyebrow. “Uninterrupted!! I feel like we won the big football game!” 

Patrick bursts out laughing. “The big football game?! You mean the Super Bowl?” Patrick is laughing so hard that he can barely get the words out.

“What?” David says, “I’m using a sports reference because you did the day we met.”

Patrick begins to calm and gets out, “You mean cricket? I was talking about baseball and you said ‘I don’t play cricket’ as if one had something to the other.”

David is completely indignant. “Of course they do! They both play with balls and it’s important to hit things!”

Another belly laugh from Patrick has David torn between pride or asking what he said that was wrong. Patrick is wiping his eyes. “Wait! Wait. What does the big football game have to do with baseball or cricket?”

David’s eyes narrow but the smile on his face gives him away. “Um, plays with balls and it’s important to hit things. Duh.”

Patrick bursts into laughter again and there is no stopping the tears this time. David smiles, loving the joy between them; relaxing in a way he hasn’t in a very long time. 

Still laughing, it takes a couple of attempts for Patrick to grab his shirt off the floor. He wipes them down before tossing it towards his bag and grabbing the edge of the bedding they’d shoved to the bottom of the bed.

“Sleep now?” Patrick asks, pulling the bedding up around them, clearly tired. David turns Patrick around so he’s the little spoon and snuggles up to him, his nose in the back of Patrick’s short hair. Eyes closed, David smiles broadly and kisses Patrick’s shoulder. Falling asleep as Patrick occasionally giggles.

\-------

The next morning, David wakes before Patrick. It’s the noises here at Stevie’s, they’re different from the ones at the motel that his brain is on alert. He didn’t sleep very deeply either. 

In their sleep, David has turned and is lying on his back with Patrick tucked under one arm and his head on David’s shoulder. David is laying there soaking up the togetherness that is not being interrupted, thank you very much. 

Gently he pushes Patrick off of him, trying not to wake him. They’re not fully under the sheet and the blanket must have been kicked off at some point because that’s gone. That does make his life easier though. He pushes the sheet off his body and gently lifts it off of Patrick. Now he can get a good look at Patrick’s dick. Last night he’d been a little preoccupied. David looks and sees that he keeps his brown hair trimmed tightly to his body, much like the hair on his head. That’s great for David’s plans for this morning.

With a smile on his face, David reaches out and starts to fondle Patrick’s dick. It perks up quickly, showing its appreciation of the attention. David leans down and takes the head in his mouth and begins to wake him. 

Quite soon, he feels Patrick hardening in his mouth; he takes a bit more in and begins to alternately lap at the head and suck. Patrick’s decent sized without being too much which pleases David. He glances up to see that Patrick is just waking. He blinks a couple of times and then quickly looks down at David’s face. 

“Mmm. Good morning to me!” Patrick says with a warm smile. “Damn. This will be over too quickly unless you slow down!” David winks and keeps on working toward Parick’s release though he does slow down a bit now that Patrick’s awake. He’s looking forward to watching and hearing and tasting as Patrick lets go. He’d tell him that but he’s not willing to give up this dick and his plans. 

“Jesus, David, that feels amazing,” Patrick says as he spreads his legs a little. David takes his hand off Patrick’s dick and trails it down his balls and into the newly created space. With his thumb brushing Patrick’s balls, his knuckles rubbing his perineum, and a little more attention to his frenulum, David has a Patrick who is coming hard with one hand tightly gripping in his hair. Which really just turns David on more. 

Letting Patrick’s softening dick slide from his mouth, he traces his fingers up his body, but about the time he hits Patrick’s ribs, Patrick starts to giggle and puts a hand down on David’s to stop his movement. “No, let me enjoy this a minute, no tickling after sex.”

“After? Some of us aren’t after,” David says playfully, stretching out beside Patrick and rubbing his very hard dick against his hip.

Patrick tugs David’s arm and says, “Come up here and lay on me. Let’s see what we can do about getting you to after.”

David lays on top of Patrick and leers, “What did you have in mind?” 

Patrick laughs at the over the top face that David is making and spreads his legs to make room for David. “Let’s finish what we started at Ray’s. Naked this time and uninterrupted. Is that okay?”

“Hell yes!” David says as he begins to rut against the crease next to Patrick’s soft cock. Patrick reaches around and grabs a handful of ass to encourage David and David pushes himself up on his hands for a better angle. Patrick leans up on one elbow and begins to suck on the nearest nipple. David has to say something, this is too good. “Fuck Patrick!” He slows to take a couple of deep breaths and Patrick says nonchalantly, “We could work up to that.” And David is coming hard across Patrick’s stomach. Letting himself down beside Patrick in as controlled a manner as he can manage, David nips Patrick’s bottom lip gently and kisses him when Patrick opens his mouth to kiss back. “That is a pretty picture. I look forward to it.”

Both of them ignore it as the come cools and gets gross but eventually David can’t handle it and his skin starts to itch. “Ugh I have to shower. My skin is getting really itchy.” It’s then that he pauses and looks at Patrick, amazed. “Holy crap! I didn’t have any irritations last night or this morning! You are my lucky charm!” 

Patrick laughs and says, “It’s probably not me but I’m thrilled we didn’t run into any issues. Go shower. I’ll strip the bed and get the wash ready to turn on as we leave.” 

David leans down to kiss him. “Well I think it’s you. So thank you.”


	4. Not So Alone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes us through to Open Mic Night. Personally it was my favorite chapter to work on and I'm really happy with how it came out. - semijocund

David is rushing a bit as he’s by himself today. Patrick is out picking up the new alpaca throws from Kitchener Farms. He would have loved to go with him but it’s a decent drive away and too much needs to be done at the store for both of them to be gone all afternoon. 

However, if he can get enough done while Patrick is out being charming to Jeannie, there might be some time to make out in the back room when he gets back to the store. David laughs at his ridiculousness. How does he get into a situation where he opens a store, starts dating his business partner and therefore hopes they don’t have too many customers so they can make out uninterrupted? 

He’s relaxing as much as possible in the store, trying to let his senses be wherever they want so that when he’s not in the store he can hopefully keep them under control a little better. It’s a theory anyway. 

Worrying about the store, his new relationship with Patrick, stressing about sharing a room with his sister and living next door to his parents...you’d think that would be enough. But no, he gets to also have his senses go randomly crazy. Lucky lucky him. 

Labeling the new bottles of body milk, he thinks he hears his mom say his name. He wonders if she’s on her way into the store so he tries to catch what she’s saying. Something about David actually used the sign out sheet for the car for tomorrow. He rolls his eyes and reaches out to see if he can figure out who she‘s talking to. His last thought is he hopes it’s just his dad….

He hears Dad say, “Well it’s about time someone else started using the system! It’s not a hard one. I wonder…”

\------

“David. David. Can you hear me?” Like a dream, David hears Patrick’s voice even though he can’t place him. He sounds like he’s in a different place than his parents. Why haven’t they made it to the store? They had to have been close for him to hear them initially. 

“David?” A warm gentle hand strokes down his left cheek. David blinks a couple of times and turns to look at Patrick. 

“Hey, you’re back sooner than I expected. Was there a problem or did Jeannie not want to chat?” His mouth is super dry, how the heck did that happen? David reaches for a water bottle.

“David, it’s 3:30. I’ve been gone almost three hours.” Patrick looks concerned. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah I’m fine. Did you see my folks on your way in? I thought I heard them talking about me but they never showed up.” David is back to labeling body milk and definitely not looking at Patrick.

Now Patrick looks very concerned. “David, I stopped at the cafe to bring you a caramel macchiato and your folks were there. Twyla said that they had been there all afternoon. I think they’re getting on her nerves. Were you listening to them from here?” 

David is studiously labeling bottles putting extra effort into making sure they’re on straight. 

Patrick reaches out and tugs gently on David’s sweater sleeve. “Hey. Look at me. What’s going on?”

David takes a deep breath, still not looking at Patrick, and says, “This has happened once before. Where I seem to space out for a bit because I focused too much on something. I was with Stevie at the Elmdale Farmer’s Market. She slapped me really hard to get me back from wherever I was. For what it’s worth, I like your method much better. She said if it happened again with her, she’ll knee me in the junk to get me out of it. I really don’t want to test her resolve on that.”

“Okay, so hang on. You spaced out because you were trying to hear your parents...who were sitting in the cafe. So we’ve got hearing and taste. We’ve got sound and touch.” Patrick is counting on his fingers. “That just leaves smell. Have you had any big responses to smells?” Patrick asks.

David can see Patrick’s brain working to put the pieces together. Damn it. They were doing so well with the relationship, he didn’t want to drag his what-the-fuck-is-even-going-on-here drama into this. What if this is too much for him? Being with Patrick didn’t seem to ever trigger his overactive senses, he’d hate to lose his source of physical comfort and excitement because he’s just too much drama for Schitt’s Creek. Patrick has his “patiently waiting for you” face on. Shit.

David takes a deep breath and says, “Yes, occasionally. It seems to be the sense that is least reactive though.” He pauses, hoping that can be the end of the disclosures. 

Patrick leans one hip on the counter next to where David has completely forgotten about labeling Body Milk and crosses his arms whilst looking at David with the “still waiting for you” face. 

David sighs and says, “My reactions aren’t irritations, though they look like it. They are my senses going into overdrive. I haven't been able to identify what specifically triggers them. Some of my reactions are pretty severe though. Secluding myself from other people and any additional sensory input is the best I’ve been able to do to try and bring a sense back to what passes for normal.”

“Damn David, I’m so sorry you’re going through this. You don’t have to be alone in this anymore, how can I help?” Patrick looks painfully earnest. 

“Well at the moment I would love to just be normal and make out like teenagers.” David smiles hopefully at Patrick. 

Patrick hesitates for a second, but relents and gives David a small smile. “I can definitely do that. Come on.” Patrick leads the way, then sits on the edge of the desk in their storeroom and holds his arms out. 

David smiles, steps into Patrick’s arms and leans in for a kiss. As Patrick’s arms close around him, David feels himself relaxing both physically and mentally. He trusts Patrick and, since full disclosure didn’t have Patrick backing off, maybe he really doesn’t have to do this alone. Maybe. David has nudged Patrick’s legs apart and can feel the beginning of an erection meeting his as they make out like teenagers. As David moves one hand up to run it through Patrick’s short hair, the bell on the front door jingles. He is really starting to hate that noise. 

“Dammit!” David groans. He really wants to tell whomever to come back tomorrow but to keep this business in the black they do actually have to sell things.

“I’ll go,” Patrick says with a grin. “I’ve made a bit of a mess of you.” He gestures towards the mirror on the wall. 

David looks and is surprised at the mess he is. Hair out of place, sweater collar pulled out of shape, lips swollen and the beginning of beard burn on his jaw line. 

“Yes, you should definitely be the one to go. I look like Cinderella after the ball. A complete mess.” David is trying to put his hair back into place. He can't help catching Patrick’s eyes in the mirror and smiling.

Patrick smiles back and heads out of the stock room to help out whoever it was that interrupted them. 

\-----

It wasn’t until almost closing that David realized he never ate lunch. Between spacing out when hearing his parents, making out with Patrick , and a late afternoon rush, David hadn’t had a lot of time to even process what had happened today.

As soon as he’s flipped the closed sign, David turns to Patrick. “Any chance you’d like to grab dinner at the cafe once we wrap up here? Originally I was going to suggest ordering pizza when we got back to your place, but I’m really hungry and don’t want to wait.”

“Okay, you must be practically starving to suggest the cafe over pizza. Are you alright?”

“Yeah. I didn’t get a chance to grab lunch today.”

“Because you spaced out...right?”

“I mean, maybe. We were also busy this afternoon.”

“Which would have been long after you should have already had lunch.”

Patrick is obviously worried. “David. We need to talk about this. Seeing you like that today was scary and I want to be able to help you.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“David...”

“Look, let’s finish closing. I’m clearly hangry and this conversation, if it’s going to happen, should at least happen over some fried food and wine.”

“I can accept those terms. I probably only need about fifteen more minutes. Once you’re done restocking, why don’t you head over first to grab a booth and order an appetizer or something to start. I’ll be there as soon as I can. It’ll go faster without you here to distract me by being all...attractive.”

Relieved to have a bit of a break before having to talk through this whole situation, David walks over and kisses Patrick, “Deal.”

\----

When Patrick walks into the cafe, David has already started on a bowl of soup. “Twyla said this is corn chowder but I’m pretty certain there is no actual corn in here. It’s a sad testament to how hungry I am that I continue to eat it, even knowing that fact.”

Patrick laughs and lifts the menu to the side so he doesn’t knock over the bowl. “I’m guessing that’s not the only thing you ordered.”

“Hell no, but soup seemed like something I could get relatively quickly and have it be edible. I really need to learn to lower my expectations. I also ordered a burger and fries.”

“What, no dessert?”

“Um, of course. I just haven’t figured how much dessert until I get through dinner first. I’m thinking tonight is a piece of pie and scoop of ice cream night, but we’ll see.”

Twyla takes that opportunity to approach. “So you’re ready to order dessert now that Patrick is here?”

Patrick sets the menu down so Twyla can grab it. “Nope, he’s just planning ahead. Can I get a burger and fries as well? We'll tackle the complicated dessert decisions later.”

“Thanks Twyla, we’re good for now then.”

Patrick waits until Twyla has left. “I know you don’t want to talk about your senses, but I think we need to.”

“There’s not much to talk about. I told you before, I don’t know how or why they go all crazy.”

“Tell me about what happened today. You had no idea I walked into the store. You weren’t moving and were just staring off into the distance. That’s not an irritation. What do you remember?”

“I heard my mom mention my name; I figured they were just outside, around the corner, about to come into the store. But she wasn’t very loud so I just tried to pay attention to what she was saying. Have you ever let your eyes go unfocused when you’re listening to something closely or deep in thought? It was like that. Everything just kind of faded away so that I could hear them...until I heard your voice and felt your hand on my cheek.”

“So did you hear the whole conversation?”

“No. Like I said, everything just kind of faded away…even their voices. I just completely spaced out. I don’t know how long it was, but probably at least 45 minutes, based on when I last checked the time to see when you’d be back.”

“I think it’s safe to say you were hearing your mother in the cafe. David, if that’s the case, your hearing is remarkable.”

“It’s not the first time I’ve heard things from a distance that I shouldn’t have. When Stevie and I were here once, I overheard a conversation that Roland and Jocelyn were having across the cafe.”

“David, have you ever tried to overhear someone’s conversation?”

“What?! No!” David wasn’t sure he liked where this was going or what Patrick was implying.

Patrick couldn’t help but notice David’s quick rebuttal. “Woah! Hey, I’m not accusing you of anything. Heck, if nothing else, I think you should try. Imagine being able to control your senses instead of just letting them go haywire on you. Maybe if you practice, you can reign them in when they get to be too much. Think of it like a muscle you need to work.”

“If I don’t make it to the gym to get a six pack, what makes you think I’m going to work out my senses?”

“Imagine all of the ways you could use them for the store. You could find the best products.”

“I already do, thank you very much.”

“Okay, okay. How about being able to keep an eye on if people are pocketing things or talking about stealing stuff when they’re hanging out in front of our store?”

“Wow, you’re never letting that one go, are you?”

“I got a hair flip from Alexis; I’m still a little traumatized from it.”

David sighs. Part of him thinks Patrick is on to something but he’s not sure he’s ready to see where that leads.

Patrick isn’t giving up that easily though. “Look, Twyla is talking with someone at the register. Just try to hear what she’s saying.”

“What if I go all spacey like I did earlier.”

“I’ll be here to make sure you don’t. I even promise not to knee you in the junk. Besides, you said you were able to do it before accidentally and you didn’t space then.”

David looks over at Twyla. He can only see her back from where he’s sitting but since he knows her voice so well, it’s not hard to pick it up over the small amount of conversations happening in the cafe. He hears her say, “George is a little backed up but your order should be up next, give me like five more minutes, Mrs. Scott, and I’ll bring it right over.” Looking at Patrick, he says, “Oh, wow. It worked.”

Patrick lights up. “It did? What was she saying?”

“She told Mrs. Scott that her order would be ready in a few minutes.”

“Okay, that proves it then.”

“What do you mean?”

“Mrs. Scott shops in our store every Thursday and I’ve never heard you use her name. I’m fairly certain you don’t know it. The fact that you correctly identified her means you really did hear Twyla talking from across the store.”

David feels like he should be offended by that comment, but he knows Patrick is right. “Great. So what do I do about it?”

“I think we need to figure out how to work on your other senses. And then work on making them go up and down. That way if the light is bothering you, you can turn down your sight. No more headaches. No more irritations.”

That all sounds way too easy and David is doing his best to not get excited about the prospect of feeling normal outside of the store. “But how? If I don’t know when something is going to flare up, how do I stop it?”

Patrick thinks for a minute. “I don’t know that we can stop it from happening but if you can turn down whatever sense is causing you issues, the irritation would go away. It’s not perfect, but it means you’ll be in a better place. And you were able to turn up your hearing with little problem. I bet it’ll be the same for turning it down. You just need to keep calm and focus on the sense when it happens and then try.”

“Yes, because calm and focused are the first words I use when describing myself.”

Patrick lowers his voice and leans towards David with a mischievous grin. “Oh, I’ve seen you focused.”

David leans in himself. “Later?”

“Definitely.”

David slides down a bit in the booth and rests his leg against Patrick’s but decides to focus back on the topic at hand before getting too distracted. “If you think it will make a difference, I’m willing to give it a try.”

“I can imagine in some lines of work being able to control all five senses would be a huge benefit. A detective wouldn’t need a crime lab anymore, they would be able to do it themselves by turning up whatever sense they needed to.”

“Are you guys talking about Sentinels?” Twyla asked as she set their burgers and fries down in front of them.

“I’m sorry what?” David asked.

“You know, Sentinels. People who have heightened senses and work to protect the tribe. One of my mom's ex-boyfriends was obsessed with them. I think he may have been my favorite, although I was pretty young and I think I just really liked that he was super bouncy and nice. He didn’t stick around too long; he was working on his doctorate and obsessed about finding his own Sentinel at some point.”

Patrick turns to David and says, “That does sound kind of like what we’re dealing with.”

David says, “Um, okay but you’re skipping over the point about the tribe. I don’t have a tribe to protect. I'm not some kind of caveman protector type anyway so I think you may be off base here.”

Patrick looks like he wants to put up an argument but instead turns to Twyla, “Did he say anything else about the Sentinels, like how they used their senses?”

“It’s been a few years since I last thought about him or his obsession but I definitely remember him talking about a book by Richard Burton because he always joked that it wasn’t the actor. I didn’t really get the whole thing but he made it sound like these people are superheroes and could do all sorts of cool things to help make people safer. Wait, David, are you a superhero? That’s so cool. One of my mom's other ex-boyfriends used to wear a cape a lot so I thought maybe he was but he didn’t really seem to have any superpowers other than dri—“

“I’m  **definitely** not a superhero,” David interrupts, his face filled with disbelief at that. “I don’t think anyone would confuse me for that. And all these senses do is quite literally give me a headache so this whole conversation is pretty pointless.”

Patrick wasn’t giving up so easily though. “I know you’ve mentioned several ex-boyfriends before but do you keep in touch with any of them or does your mom? Is there any way you could maybe talk to this guy and get us some more information? Maybe find out if he ever found his Sentinel? It might be helpful for us to see what we’re up against here.”

Before Twyla can respond, David pipes in, “What part of ‘this whole conversation is pointless’ do you not get?” David is waving his hands around to make sure that Patrick knows he means the whole conversation as well as the cafe and maybe all of Schitt’s Creek. It was one thing when it was talking with Patrick about what he’s going through but he did not like the idea of Twyla and her whole family knowing. The conversation had taken a really uncomfortable turn.

Patrick takes a deep breath and gently says, “David, this is the first indication we’ve had that there may be an explanation for this so it’s worth looking into. I don’t like seeing you in pain and it’s clear you’re having problems.”

Twyla smiles and promises that she’ll reach out to her mom. “Like I said, Blair was always my favorite even if he didn’t stick around for too long. It always seemed like he had too much energy to stand still, so it didn’t surprise either of us when things ended but I’m fairly certain they’ve kept in contact over the years. Let me give her a call and I’ll see if there’s anything I can find out for you.”

\-----

David isn’t surprised the next day to see Patrick at the counter with his laptop open but he is a little shocked at just how happy he looks. “Normally I’d say it’s nice to see you too but you haven’t looked up so I know the smile on your face isn’t for me.”

“Actually it is for you. I saw you coming down the street. You don’t have to have enhanced sight to look out the window, you know. Besides, it’s been a good day so far, so seeing you is making it a great day.” Patrick finally looks up as David comes around the corner and pulls him into a kiss.

David wraps his hand around Patrick’s neck and laughs a bit after the kiss. “Well I’m glad it’s for me then because if you were this happy looking at a spreadsheet, we’d need to have a serious discussion about getting out a bit more.”

“Actually, I’m also happy about the spreadsheet but I don’t think I require intervention.”

“Does it happen to show that the store has made a million dollars this month and we can retire?”

“Nope. It’s actually not for the store at all. It’s for you.”

David narrows his eyes and drops his hand to Patrick’s shoulder. “Well suddenly I’m not liking the sound of this at all.”

Patrick leans the screen back and turns the laptop so David can see better. “Remember when we were talking at the cafe about practicing with your senses? I was thinking a bit more about it, in particular, how we can make sure you’re getting better with controlling things. That reminded me of a report I used for my old baseball team to track when players were struggling with a position or particular skill. We updated it after every practice and it helped make sure the right people were playing in the game that week.”

“Somehow you are both such a jock and such a nerd all in one package, I can’t even.”

Patrick laughs and points to the chart he’s built. “It’s really not that nerdy, it’s just a bunch of stats lined up chronologically with the change over period next to each entry so it’s easier to track.”

David drops his arm from Patrick’s shoulder and crosses his arms, quirking an eyebrow up, not saying anything.

“Ok, now that I’ve said that out loud, I realize just how nerdy that sounded.”

“Thank you for admitting that .  It’s the first step to recovery. So, how are you expecting me to work on my senses? I’m not really sure how that will go.”

“I’m still partially working that out but I have some ideas. I figured we’d start with sound since that’s the one you’ve had the most success with so far. But really the main thing I want to focus on right now is on this other tab. It tracks when you have issues and if you were able to get it back under control. That way we can see if there are any patterns and see which ones cause you the most issue so we can prioritize those.”

“This all sounds like a lot of work for something we don’t know will do anything.”

“David, you started your own store. Don’t pretend you’re afraid of work when it matters.” 

David is unsure how to deal with such a compliment and decides the easiest thing to do is just ignore it. “Well I haven’t had any issues today and it doesn’t look like we have a rush of customers about to knock down the door, unfortunately. Did you have a hearing test in mind?”

“I did actually. I figured we’d see if you can hear anything in the cafe again.”

“Last time that happened, I spaced out. I’m not sure that’s a great idea. Besides, my parents aren’t in there, I don’t even know where to start.”

“I’m here and I’ll make sure you don’t space out and if you do, I’ll bring you out like I did the last time. And your parents may not be there, but we know Twyla is and we also know you were able to pick up her voice from across the cafe. Try to hear her.”

David places both hands on the counter and leans his weight a bit forward. He knows the half inch closer to the door doesn’t actually make a difference, but it gives him the focus he needs. It’s hard though, not being able to see anything he’s trying to hear. At first all of the sounds sound far away and are indistinguishable from one another but suddenly someone drops a piece of silverware onto the floor and David flinches back, the sound feeling like it’s piercing his head.

Patrick places one hand on David’s lower back as if to catch him if he falls. “What? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, it was just a loud sound that jarred me. I wasn’t able to really pick out anything in particular.”

“Try again. Picture the inside of the cafe and try to place the sounds to what they could be or where they might be coming from inside.”

David leans back lightly into Patrick’s hand but keeps his hands on the counter. Together they seem to steady him so it’s a bit easier to focus this time. He takes Patrick’s suggestion and visualizes the cafe, trying to tie sounds to things as he hears them. It helps and after a minute he’s able to pick up Twyla talking to a customer at the counter. She’s taking an order and he can almost hear what the customer is saying, but it’s hard to distinguish because he doesn’t recognize the voice. He pushes his hearing more to try to pick up on it when he feels Patrick’s other hand covers one of his. It wasn’t until he felt Patrick’s touch that he realized he had been starting to space out and just focus on his hearing.

With Patrick’s hand on his, though, it’s a bit easier to follow Twyla’s voice as she walks back towards the kitchen, talking to George. David is also now able to pick out individual conversations with less problem, even those voices he doesn’t recognize.

Patrick whispers, “David?”

“Wow. It worked. It actually worked. I could hear Twyla. And there were at least four different customers talking in there. Have I said wow yet? Because I’m not sure if I’m really excited or about to have another panic attack.”

Patrick pulls David to his side. “No panic needed. You did exactly what we expected you to do. That’s  **great** . And you didn’t space out.”

“I almost did. You touched my hand right before I started to focus too much on hearing and then it was even easier to pick the voices out.”

“So you think me touching you helped.”

“I’m not sure, but it felt that way.”

“Huh. Alright, another thing to test.”

David leans his head back and groans, “I am your boyfriend, not a lab rat.”

Patrick turns both of them so they’re face to face and smiles, “I’ll never get tired hearing you say ‘boyfriend’. Plus, no reason you can’t be both.” He leans in and kisses David before walking around him into the back room.

David smiles at first and then the second portion of Patrick’s sentence catches up with him. “Hey! Wait a minute!”

From the back room, Patrick yells, “A very cute rat!”

\------

David is alone at the counter with nothing to do, letting Patrick take care of paperwork in the back. It’s the third day without any customers. Patrick seems fairly excited about the open mic happening later that night, but David doesn’t hold that same hope. While it had taken a back seat after the initial opening, his fear of failure rears its ugly head again.

Logically he knows he’s done everything he can to make this business a success. Patrick has been a huge help too, he’s fairly certain he wouldn’t have made it past the first week without him. But if Patrick is wrong and people don’t show up tonight….

David can feel a panic attack coming on. Between the stress of his senses, the constant family drama that pops up and the lack of customers, he’s feeling a little lost in the world. It’s like he’s tried to take a step but there’s nothing there, it’s disorienting. He walks around the counter to pace the store because he suddenly feels like there’s not enough air around him and he needs to move. His mind is spiraling around his past failures and his current situation, leaving him feeling tossed and turned and not knowing which way is up. Just as he thinks he might actually vibrate out of his skin, he hears a steady pounding. It’s not loud, but its constant beat pulls his mind on the single focus of it, all other thoughts seeming less important.

Unsure what he’s hearing, he yells toward the back room where it sounds like the pounding may be coming from, “Patrick?! What are you doing?”

“Taxes. It’s very exciting. And by exciting I mean I think I’ve actually drooled on the keyboard a couple of times when I nodded off, staring at the screen.” 

The sound hasn’t stopped while Patrick was talking but it definitely sounds like it’s coming from that direction.

“So you’re not like, building shelves or something back there? Maybe typing really loud?” David asks, even as the last part of the sentence ends he realizes how ridiculous it sounds.

“David? Are you feeling okay?”

The beat has sped up slightly and is getting louder. David starts to get concerned...but he’s not panicking...which he realizes he probably should be since this is right out of a horror novel.

Patrick comes out from the back and looks at David. “Seriously? What are you talking about?”

“I…don’t know. I just hear this thumping sound and I can’t place it.”

Patrick walks over to David and places a hand on his cheek. “Does your head hurt? Do you think you’re hearing something from the cafe or Bob’s Garage maybe?”

It’s then that David understands what it is. He places his hand on Patrick’s chest, eyes wide. “It’s you. It’s your heartbeat.” David feels and hears the thumping speed up slightly again and grins.

“What? How? Why?”

David can’t pull his hand away or stop smiling, “Right before I heard your heart, I was starting to stress out about stuff. But when I picked up your heartbeat, everything in my head got quieter...not something I’m usually good at doing on my own when I start spiraling. I guess if I can hear conversations in the cafe across the street, hearing your heartbeat in the next room isn’t much different.”

“Oh, wow. Maybe your brain is getting used to me helping with your senses so when it needed help, it searched out for me in whatever way it could. That’s...amazing. You’re amazing, David.”

David still hasn’t been able to pull his hand from Patrick’s chest, too stunned to be able to both feel and hear Patrick in this way. In some ways it’s more intimate than anything they’ve done physically. He can’t resist using his other arm to pull Patrick in close. Patrick leans in, wrapping his arms around David’s waist and kissing his neck.

He really doesn’t want to break the embrace but Patrick knows he needs to ask, “Do you want to talk about what was stressing you out?”

David sighs and leans back but doesn’t move out Patrick’s arms. “Just the usual stuff, mostly worried about the store and my senses.”

“I’ve been staring at our numbers all day; you have nothing to worry about with the store and tonight when the open mic night is an overwhelming success, you’ll  **really** have nothing to worry about. And, from what just happened, it seems like your senses are doing okay. But next time don’t wait until you get stuck in your own head. Talk to me.”

“I’ll try. It’s not something I’m good at but it’s comforting to know my subconscious understands to rely on you.”

Patrick pulls him down for a kiss and gives David a squeeze before stepping back. “Can you still hear my heart?”

“Yes, but it’s faded a bit. Almost like background music. I’m aware it’s there but unless I focus on it, I’m not really paying attention to it.”

“Well, that’s good at least. I’d hate for you to go all Tell-Tale Heart on me. Plus I guess now I have my own personal cardiologist so you’ll have to let me know I ever have a heart attack.”

“Tell you what, if you finish those taxes before the masses arrive for open mic night, I’ll give you a heart attack later tonight.”

Patrick starts to walk towards the back. “I’m not sure if that’s a threat or a promise, but either way I’ll take it. Although seeing me in my fringed vest tonight covering some classic ABBA will probably be enough to give you a heart attack."

“You’re joking. I know you’re joking.”

Patrick just laughs but doesn’t respond.

“Right?!”


	5. We Will Make Our Own Bumps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This takes us through The Olive Branch so there's a bit of angst here but nothing more than was in the show.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title are lyrics from Red Wanting Blue - Bumpy Ride

This morning David had felt, as cliched as it was, like he was on top of the world. Something had changed between him and Patrick during open mic night. He wasn’t ready to put words to it just yet, but he could acknowledge that it was there. And while he put up the expected grumbling at the monthly anniversary gift, it really did make him smile. 

He shouldn’t have said Patrick was jinxing their relationship with the gifts. He didn’t actually believe that but he did like pushing back on the sentimentality of it all. Well, he didn’t believe it until he saw the look on Patrick’s face when Alexis said Rachel was his fiancée. David was used to Patrick being the solid and reliable one. His inability to articulate what was going on only heightened the uncertainty David felt at that moment. Even though he was sitting down, David felt like without Patrick’s stability, he was too close to crumbling so he left.

Which is why David was now staring at the closed door Patrick had just walked out of but couldn’t stop himself from following him with his hearing.

“Alexis, could you please make a plate for David and take it to him? He hasn‘t eaten today.” David hears Patrick say to his sister. 

“Ugh! Why do I have to do it?”

“Please, Alexis.” She must have heard the desperation in Patrick’s voice because she agreed without further complaint. 

“Rae, let’s go talk in your car.” David rolls his eyes. Like he couldn’t listen in and Patrick knows it. 

“What’s going on Patrick? Who was that?” A door slammed but David picked up the rest of the conversation with no problem. “And why haven’t you texted me back?” This Rachel woman sounds very frustrated. 

Patrick takes a deep breath. “Okay. This was not a conversation I was expecting to have today but I guess it's time has come.” Another deep breath. “What’s going on is that I left home for a place where I could be myself. That guy’s name is David, he’s my boyfriend. He and I own a store together.” David can hear him speaking gently to her. It’s the voice he uses with David when they’re talking about important things. David is relieved that Patrick tells her they are together. He’s never been good at being someone’s secret. Quiet isn’t really in David’s nature. On the other hand, are they still together? 

“Wait. You’re dating a guy? Patrick, what’s going on?” David notes that she’s not angry, just confused. There’s some small relief in that.

“Yeah. I am.” David hears a very pregnant pause and he wonders what the looks on their faces say.

“Rae, I have been drowning under the weight of the expectations since junior high. After watching the fuck up that is my older brother, it was important to me to not be anything remotely like that. My folks always seemed upset about something he had done or was doing and the trail of broken hearts he left at school made it hard to have the same last name. So I was determined not to cause drama like that, I just wanted to be dependable Patrick. I didn’t want to make anyone unhappy. You’re really nice and pretty and I thought my parents would approve. So I asked you out. I thought it was going okay but I realized things had gotten more serious than I intended from the outside when I got the condom lecture from my dad. They just assumed, everyone did. At some point, toward the end of high school, the world seemed to expect we would lose our virginity. I didn’t want to cause drama. So I went along with that too. I decided I would be ready when you were.” 

“Is that why you never pressured me into having sex? A lot of the girls complained about the peer pressure, I’ve always been so thankful it wasn’t an issue for us. I just thought you were being a gentleman.”

“Yes, I was trying. But it got a lot harder to remain dependable Patrick after high school. I had a high school sweetheart and the next expected step was marriage. Breaking up would have been a scandal so I went along with expectations and I proposed. But eventually I realized that by not wanting to cause drama, I had trapped myself. I wasn’t ready to get married. I wanted to escape town but I didn’t know how without causing drama. Drama I’d spent almost ten years working to avoid.” David hears Patrick take a deep breath. “So I broke up with you and ran. Because I would have been miserable if I had stayed. I couldn’t fight those expectations, there were too many of them. Better to make a fresh start somewhere new. Where I wouldn’t have to watch my parents be crushed by another son failing to meet their expectations. So I left and ended up here in Schitt’s Creek. It’s a great small town filled with charming and wacky people. Including David. Especially David.” 

“So did you ever actually want me? Or was I just your cover?” Her voice sounds stressed now. Like she’s trying not to cry. 

“Honestly, I don’t know; I just didn’t want to cause drama. When I figured out I was attracted to guys, exploring that seemed like small town drama with extra fireworks. So dependable Patrick went nowhere near that. I’d considered it was a possibility and that was another reason to leave town. Acting on that would have been a bigger scandal than any my brother had made.” There was a long pause and David could hear her sniffle.

Then Patrick continued, “Until I met David I was never interested in finding out if I was actually gay, or pan or… or… or whatever. But then he was there. All in my face needing help while being charming and sort of stand-off-ish and I knew. I  **knew** . This was where I was meant to be, and I knew this was my chance to live the life I wanted and not one led by expectations. So I had to take it and I asked him out.” 

“I don’t understand. What was wrong with the life we had?”

“It wasn’t  **my** life, Rae. I’m so sorry to have led you on, that wasn’t my intention but I guess I didn’t think my actions through to their obvious conclusion. I’m sorry that I hurt you. That life was one I’d built to keep everyone else in my life happy except me. My life is here now and I love it here. I want to be with David and see where this goes, if he’ll forgive me for not telling him about you.”

And then Alexis opened the door to their room, bringing him the dinner Patrick had requested. She wouldn’t shut up so he couldn’t hear anymore of the conversation.

\----

“David? David it’s been a whole day already. You can't just lay there forever. You have a store to run.” Alexis sounds…. whatever . 

“We have a lot to talk about. That’s what Patrick said to his  **fiancée** .” David was doing his level best to mope through the rest of his life. “Yesterday morning he told me I should be more trusting! Clearly no one can be trusted.” David just feels so sad. 

“Um, excuse me! I can’t be trusted? Ugh, David! You know what? Never mind. I don’t want to be trusted. Not when you’re this needy.” Alexis leaves and tries to slam the door but it’s just too light to really make a bang. David covers himself up more in his bedding, turns to face the wall and tries to go back to sleep.

“Hey, I heard you were being a little bitch.” David lifted his head to see Stevie standing by the foot of his bed. David is in the spot between the wall and his bed again.

“What, Stevie? What could you possibly want from me right now? Never mind, I don’t care what it is. Just go away.” David puts his head back down on his knees. 

After a minute, David feels Stevie sit next to him on the floor. “What are you doing?” David asks tiredly. “I’d prefer to be miserable and cry alone thanks.”

“So are you going to tell me what crawled up your ass or do I need to guess?” Stevie doesn’t sound particularly frustrated, more annoyed that this is somehow her job. 

“Are you serious? My boyfriend has a fiancée! And that person is not me!” The end of that sentence is a higher pitch and much louder than the first part. David winces.

“What’s really going on? I’m used to David-emotions but this is a new level even for you. Is something spiking?” Stevie asks quietly.

“Yes, of course. I’m clearly not suffering enough so welcome back headache!” This time he speaks so quietly Stevie has to lean over to actually hear him.

“Well at least that’s something we can fix. Is it your sight that’s bothering you or your skin that’s the issue? I see you’re rocking the sunglasses and comfy sweater combo so it’s just a guess.” Stevie gets up and goes to the bathroom. David can hear her shake out an aspirin.

“At least two, Stevie! Maybe three!” More quietly, “And some water too, please?” Moments later Stevie is sitting next to him again and nudging him with a water bottle and offering him three aspirin. 

“Thank you.” David takes a swig of water and drops the pills down the back of his throat and swallows. 

“So now that that is on its way to being taken care of, what’s the real problem?”

David huffs. “Patrick isn't real enough? I mean it’s definitely enough for me.”

“Patrick could be reason enough, if I understood what’s going on in your head. Are you saying that the stuff with Patrick is making your senses worse? It’s been a while since I’ve seen you this bad.” She sits quietly, waiting for him to answer. She doesn’t move or say anything. David wonders if she has brought her book. He looks over at her to see, and ends up making eye contact. 

“So,” Stevie says gently, “from what Alexis tells me, your stomach must be quite empty. The aspirin should kick in soon.” She settles back, clearly there for the long haul.

With a heavy exhale David says,“I’m breaking out.” He sits up and crosses his legs and then lifts his sweater enough that Stevie can see. 

Stevie looks alarmed at the foot long patch of rash that wraps around his torso. “Yeah, that’s straight up disgusting and not something I ever needed to see. Your skin has never broken out so bad...maybe I should take you to Ted. I’m sure he has some kind of cream for...what is happening there.” 

“What difference would it make Stevie? My senses are so out of whack not even a real doctor would be able to do much good.”

“What about your body milk? Usually you can’t shut up about that stuff...have you used it today?” She’s rising to go to back to the bathroom.

“There’s only a little left. I don’t want to have to go to the store.”

“Well that’s just stupid. Thankfully for a small tip or one of the bottles of wine I know you have hidden in here, I’ll gladly make the trip for you. Of course I’ll also need the thirty bucks to get the overpriced crap for you.” David looks up . “Since I’m charging you, is there anything else you need from the store for your senses? I'm not making a second trip.”

“My hearing is turned up so far I could probably hear the Jazzagal’s practicing in town but there’s not much to be done about that.” 

David sounds like he’s going to cry more so she tries to distract him. Have you heard anything fun at least? Roland in the French maid’s outfit again?” She’s clearly trying to change the subject, but David is too far gone to catch it.

“No. What I did hear was Patrick talking to Rachel.”

“Shit, David. What did he say?”

“He told her about us.” David’s quiet again, still trying to understand what that might mean for him.

“About Schitt’s Creek or about you and him?” Stevie asks gently. It’s like she’s waiting for him to lose it. He just doesn't have the energy though.

“Both actually. He was really up front about it. She didn’t seem angry, just confused, which I guess makes sense. He said he couldn’t have explored that part of himself back in their hometown which is part of the reason he left.”

“So he was honest with her...sounds like he did good. And here you are hiding in a corner.”

David feels he should say something but just leans his head back down on his knees. He’s been away from Patrick for over 24 hours and this is the worst he’s felt, on multiple levels, since he can remember. He just doesn’t have it in him to spar with her like they normally do.

A minute or so later he hears the door open and close as Stevie leaves to go to the store for him. It wasn’t until he finally made his way into his bed that he realized she never actually took any money from him. 

\-----------------

It's been a hell of a week and today was a roller coaster ride he’d rather not ever repeat.

The day has come full circle at least, David is sitting in the same spot when he met with Stevie earlier this morning. He was feeling pretty good when he left the café to go see Patrick but it was clear right away that getting back together wasn’t going to be as easy as he thought. But they made it through, even with the bumps and miscommunications. David felt pretty good about his olive branch to Patrick. It had just cost a little dignity. David had seen a couple people glancing in the windows as he danced his heart out for Patrick. The important part was that it got them here having dinner and smiling at each other, so it was worth it.

Twyla was gone for the night already so they had placed their orders with George. It was late and the café wouldn’t be open much longer. Other than Patrick and David, there were only two other guys so it was slow enough for George to handle. It would still take a little longer than normal but David was fine with that since that meant he got to spend some more time with Patrick. It had been a very long week.

While he’s happy, David is fairly uncomfortable in his leather sweater. “If I’d known I was doing a full on dance routine tonight I definitely would have dressed differently. “

Patrick grins and says, ”I don’t know, I think the extra layers and drips of sweat really added to the mystique of the show.”

“Well just be happy that you’re not the one with heightened senses because, trust me, there wouldn’t be any mystique left in our relationship if you could smell me right now.”

“I don’t know David. I’ve seen you pretty sweaty before and I definitely don’t remember complaining. I mean, it’s been a while but hopefully I haven’t slipped your mind that much.”

“It was a long week but no, I’m not forgetting any of those nights anytime soon. Although, I could use a refresher soon. After I shower obviously.” 

It’s telling how far they’ve come in their relationship that Patrick only blushes a little at that comment. “Sounds like a fine plan to me.”

While the words are nice, not hearing a follow through to the plan makes David a little nervous, ”It feels like we’re alright. Right? We’re okay? Because I really need us to be okay. “ 

Patrick leans back in the booth a bit but looks David right in the eyes with no hesitation. “We’re okay. “

“Oh thank God. This week without you sucked. I’m not even gonna try to sugarcoat it.“

“I definitely agree. I mean at least you had most of the week off and a spa trip with your best friend. I got stuck watching a house hunters marathon with Ray two nights in a row while I tried to reconcile our inventory. “

David grimaces a bit. He feels a bit bad on how everything went down but it doesn’t seem like there’s any real malice behind Patrick’s words. Instead of dwelling on the bad, he tries to lighten the mood. “Well I am buying you this exquisite dinner so you know that it balances the scales. “

Patrick laughs and says, “So you noticed I went for the high end pork chops this time.”

“Obviously. And we have such a fine selection of varied ice cream flavors to choose from for dessert: from vanilla all the way through chocolate. Only the best for you, of course.“

It’s then that George brings over their dinner. Patrick reaches over and grabs a fry off David‘s plate and David acts offended but can’t help but laugh a little bit. “Hey I danced my butt off so I can justify eating these carbs. No stealing them for me.”

“Speaking of dance, what was your and Stevie’s first dance at your wedding?”

“Oh God. How much did she tell you of that awkward awkward night?”

“Actually not a lot. It seems Stevie has a bit of a protective streak in her and I apparently set it off a bit with, you know, everything. It’s normally tough to get Stevie to talk about anything. It's even harder when you’re on her bad side. Although I think I’ll still take her on a bad day over Ronnie on a good day...but that’s a different story.”

It’s then that David realizes how hard this last week must have been for Patrick, too. He’d been so focused on his own issues with his senses and feeling lost after the BBQ, he hadn’t really considered how Patrick was getting on. Suddenly dinner and a dance didn’t feel like enough after all but it didn’t seem like something worth bringing up. Instead he decides to let Patrick see how much he trusts him.

“It probably didn’t help that I wasn’t in the best place. On top of everything else, I was having problems with my senses again. Before Stevie quite literally dragged me off to the spa, I was having a particularly bad morning. Everything was kind of up too high and even with my sunglasses on and the curtains closed, the light was giving me a blinding headache and everything hurt. In typical supportive Stevie fashion, she literally pulled my ass off the bed and told me to get my act together. Realistically, all that meant was a nice large dose of aspirin and a cool shower to help with my skin but both of those things helped enough that we could at least make it to the spa. Let’s just say I went through a lot of aspirin this week.”

Patrick looks concerned and asks, “Why are you having so much trouble? You’re still using the products from the store, right? Did you try to control them and bring them down at all? How did that work?”

David lowers his head and shrugs his shoulders. “It didn’t just didn’t come as easy as when you and I are working on it. I don’t know if it was because I had other things on my mind or if it’s easier when someone is helping me through it or…” David pauses for a second, unsure if he should even say the next bit. He needs Patrick to know that he still trusts him even after everything and the only way to do that is to be open. “Or if it’s you helping that makes all the difference.” He hesitates before saying anything else and looks up at Patrick to see how it went over.

Patrick looks a little stunned, but not scared, which is what David was the most concerned about. He can work with stunned but scaring Patrick off isn’t an option he wants to think about.

“What do you mean if it’s me? Can’t Stevie help you? Did she try at the spa at all since you’d been having so much trouble that morning?“

“While Stevie is my best friend, she is still also Stevie and asking her for help always feels like you’re asking for trouble. But yes, I actually did ask her for some help after my shower before I went to the spa. I was worried about even traveling with the way my head was feeling so I explained some of what you and I had done on testing, trying to lower stuff. And while I could make a dent a bit while she was there and helping, it definitely didn’t come as easily as it has with you. I didn’t feel like I actually had a lot of control. It’s kind of hard to explain. It was almost like my ability to control my senses was stuck in molasses and covered in oil. If I tried too hard, it just slipped and when I could get a grip on it, change came really slowly and didn’t do much. It has never felt like that with you.”

Patrick thinks, rubbing his fingers across his lips seemingly trying to digest everything David has just told him. “Part of me is glad to know that I’m such a help. What makes me nervous is that you’re feeling like you don’t have as much control when I’m not there. I want to help you figure this out so that you’re comfortable with your senses again. I know this has been really stressful on you and everything this last week hasn’t helped. But you’ve made a lot of progress over the last few weeks. Hopefully with time we can make even bigger steps to help you. “

“Excuse me.”

Both David and Patrick startle a little bit, having been caught up in their conversation and focused on each other. They hadn’t noticed that the two other occupants in the café had made their way from the back to their table. David’s attention went immediately to the taller man, behind the one who spoke. His face wasn’t readable but he was clearly still in good shape even though his short grey hair gave away that he was probably in his fifties. With his light blue button-up and khakis, he looked like he’d be more at home behind a business desk. 

The man who spoke was in stark contrast to that. He was the shorter of the two and clearly a little younger, with curly dark hair peppered with grey that seemed especially untamed compared to the more militaristic cut of the taller man. Their clothes also show a distinct difference between the two men. The slightly torn jeans, colorful sweater and messenger bag slung over his shoulder are not designer wear and they look well lived in. However they catch David’s attention and add to the sense of openness to the man in front of him. Additionally, his glasses don’t hide his bright blue eyes that are wrinkled at the edges by the large smile across his face. Friendly or not, David has no idea what would’ve brought either of these men to their table. 

“Um. Hi. Do we know you?“

“Not personally, but I think a friend of mine has mentioned my name before. I’m Blair Sandburg and this is my husband Jim Ellison.” The shorter man reaches out his hand to shake David‘s hand while gesturing to the man behind him.

David shakes his hand and says, “I am David and this is my boyfriend Patrick.” David notices that Blair reaches over to shake Patrick’s hand but that Jim doesn’t budge. “I’m sorry, the name isn’t ringing a bell, who's your friend?”

“Twyla. She reached out to me because she had overheard you guys talking about people with heightened senses. Seems she was right. It sounds like you’re a Sentinel, David. And Patrick, you’re his Guide.”

David looked over at Patrick to see if he’s following along or understanding what’s happening. It seems that he has to some extent because his eyes are wide and he looks to be trying to take it all in. Patrick then nods. “Yeah I remember Twyla mentioning reaching out to one of her mom’s friends, but what do you mean by Guide?”

Bouncing a little on the balls of his feet, Blair excitedly explains, “A Guide is someone that helps the Sentinel control their senses. In tribal days, it was someone who helped watch the Sentinel’s back as a Sentinel watched over the tribe. In modern days the setup is similar, the Sentinel watches and the guide helps. From your conversation it sounds like that’s what’s going on here.“

David still feels on the wrong foot with this whole conversation and after this week of being on the wrong foot with Patrick he’s pretty testy about the interruption. “So you were eavesdropping on our conversation? You were across the room. How are you hearing what we said and why were you listening?” 

Blair blushes at that. “Yeah sorry. See, you’re not the only Sentinel in the room right now.” He glances back at the silent guy behind him who is the definition of stone faced. “We came here because Twyla mentioned you were dealing with heightened senses and we wanted to meet you ourselves. It seems we missed her tonight so we thought we were out of luck meeting you until Jim overheard you mention the issues with your senses. He listened in to make sure you were the two we were looking for. As a general statement, information on heightened senses and Sentinels can be troublesome if it gets into the wrong hands, which is why we came in person.” 

David notices that not only has Blair’s enthusiasm dropped a bit since the start of the conversation, Jim has moved for the first time since they arrived at their table. He’s stepped closer to Blair, directly behind him, laying his hand on his waist. With that, Blair’s smile returns. “Long story short, we figured it was easier to come speak in person and to give you this.”

Blair reaches into the messenger bag and hands David a thick book that looks like it was typed on a typewriter and put together at home.

“This is all of the research I’ve done over the years on Sentinels. A lot of it’s probably too academic for what you guys need, but it might be helpful for you to understand the history of Sentinels across cultures. See, Sentinels are very rare in today’s world so when Twyla said she might know one, we had to come see for ourselves.”

David is holding the book in his hand, unsure what to do with it. It’s huge and the cover is a nondescript light brown that says  _ The Sentinel by Blair Sandburg _ in a simple typewriter font.

Blair seems to take a bit of pity on them. “Look, I know it’s a lot. So let’s do this instead of having you just dive right into that. What’s your biggest question that we can help answer?”

David is still not really sure what’s going on. So he asks the first thing that pops into his head, pointedly looking at Jim, “Can he speak?”

That seems to get through to Jim at least a little, the corner of his mouth turns up a bit, “Yes. But after being married for almost 20 years, I know that conversation is his strength, and not mine.” 

Blair laughs. “Jim is the stereotypical strong silent type. So yeah, I tend to handle most of the explanations. Usually, if anything, it’s him telling me to stop talking so much. But I think he’s being nice since it’s been a while since we’ve met another Sentinel and Guide pair.”

Patrick glances at the book and then at David and holds up his hands. David passes it to Patrick since he hasn’t even bothered opening it yet.

David closes his eyes, clearly still struggling to grasp everything that’s going on. “Sorry it’s been a long few days. So why are you here?”

“To help you and give you information, simple as that. We know from experience that when someone’s senses come online, it is pretty overwhelming. Honestly, there's a lot of trial and error between the Sentinel and Guide to figure out what works best for them. But, that being said, you can hopefully learn from our mistakes and make it an easier road for yourselves. Take some time to read the book and figure out what you’re struggling with. Jim and I decided to make a trip out of this so we’re heading out to camp and go fishing for a few days. We can meet up when we’re back and have a more productive conversation.”

Patrick glances up. “You’re not staying in town? Are you going to see Twyla?”

Something clouds over Blair’s face and at the same time Jim pulls Blair slightly so that he’s now leaning directly on Jim, as if to support him. Blair sighs. “Yes, another long story short, sometimes Sentinels can be territorial and it’s usually better for us to stay somewhere else a bit further away. Besides, this will give you time to go through things before we check back in. And we’ll meet here so I can make sure to see Twyla. Last time I saw her she had pigtails and wore roller skates everywhere she went. I can’t wait to see her all grown up.”

David is fairly certain he doesn’t feel remotely territorial about Schitt’s Creek but isn’t about to argue because he’d like to finish dinner and get home. He feels like he’s been walking on a waterbed this whole conversation.

David looks over Patrick to see how much he’s taking it in. Unsurprisingly, he’s already thumbed through several different pages and has bookmarked them with his fingers. And, to no surprise, currently looks to be diligently studying a chart of some sort. “Of course you’d find a spreadsheet to start with.“

Patrick smiles but doesn’t say anything or even look up because he’s too busy reading the footnotes on the page.

Blair hands David a card. “Here’s my cell phone number. Give me a call if anything urgent comes up. We’ll plan on being back here on Friday for dinner. The copy of the book is yours but please be careful with it and keep it to yourself. The world isn’t ready to know about Sentinels yet.”

With that Jim and Blair depart with a wave, leaving Patrick and David as the last customers in the cafe.

Patrick finally looks up from the book. “This is fascinating stuff, David. Some things we’ve dealt with are listed along with the ways they’ve worked out to make them easier to live with. I think this is a huge opportunity to help you not only control your senses, but to be able to use them without issue.” He’s practically glowing with excitement and while it’s great to see him this way, David can’t help but feel like this whole evening has been a fever dream.

Noticing David’s discomfort, Patrick sets the book off to one side on the table. “David, this is a good thing. We’re not alone in dealing with this. We have more resources than we did plus it sounds like we have a pair of people that can help us since they’ve been in this spot themselves. We have a few days before we talk to Jim and Blair again. In that time, we can work our way through the book and see how it helps.”

David isn’t sure how to voice his concerns without sounding like he’s whining. “I just don’t want this to come between us or cause issues. We just got back to being okay. I’m worried this will complicate things.”

Patrick reaches out and takes both of David’s hands in his. “I get that, I really do. Especially with how this last week has been. But we made it through that. We’ve opened a store together. We’ve dealt with the issues your senses cause already. This is nothing new or scarier than anything else we’ve dealt with. Just like the store doesn’t dictate our relationship, neither will your senses. But they are a part of you, just like being a business owner, so they’re important to me.” 

He gives David’s hands a squeeze before letting go and pointing towards the plate. ”You still have some fries left. You know I’m not letting you get out of buying me dessert by saying you’re too full to eat.”

David smiles and feels like he’s on safe, solid ground for the first time in a week. “Now when have you ever heard me say that?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading this first entry into our Schitt's Creek Sentinel Verse. More stories will come because we're definitely not done playing here. 
> 
> It's been a ton of fun combining two of my favorite fandoms, I hope we did them justice.


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